Brentuximab vedotin in pretreated Hodgkin lymphoma patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: This meta-analysis evaluated the effect of single agent brentuximab vedotin (BV) in patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Patients and methods: A systematic literature search was performed and included studies published from 1st January 2012 to 1st July 2015 investigating BV in patients with relapsed/refractory HL. Data was extracted and reviewed by two investigators then analyzed using the comprehensive meta-analysis version 3 software. Results: 22 out of 4048 screened records met the eligibility criteria. These records included 903 patients. The median age of the cohort was 31 years (range: 26-45). 86% received >= 3 previous lines of systemic therapy. 529 (58.7%) and 232 (25.7%) underwent high dose chemotherapy and autologous and/or allogeneic stem transplantation prior of BV respectively. The overall response rate to BV was 62.7% (range: 30-100%). The complete response, partial response, stable disease and progressive disease rates were 31.8%, 35.1%, 19.5% and 11.7% respectively. The one year progression free survival and estimated one year overall survival were 47.6% and 79.5% respectively. Conclusion: In this largest published pooled cohort, BV produces high responses with encouraging progression free and overall survival in relapsed/refractory HL patients. Our results enhance the role of BV in heavily pretreated HL patients.