New therapy outlooks in Hodgkin lymphoma

Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a curable disease in 80% of advanced and 90% of localized stages. An improvement of the HL curability is still possible with the emergence of first-line therapy with a better balance between efficacy and toxicity and early identification patients with high risk of failure requiring specific treatment. 18FDG PET-CT gained a major role in the baseline staging and response assessment to HL treatment. The prognostic value of early PET-CT allowed to develop PET-CT guided therapies able to optimize the balance between efficacy and toxicity including the modulation of the chemotherapy intensity or the omission of radiotherapy for some localized diseases. New drugs emerged in the treatment of relapse or refractory HL (brentuximab vedotine [BV], immunological checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD1). Although their place in the strategies of salvage therapy is still debated several trials have reported relevant efficacy in some unmet medical need: refractory patients or relapses after auto/allograft. This review addresses the questions of PET-CT-based therapeutic strategies in first-line and the impact of new drugs targeting the micro-environment (anti-PD1) or the Hodgkin Reed Sternberg cells (BV).