ABSTRACT
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.
Declaration of interests
Parts of this study have been presented at the American Society of Hematology 2015 meeting in Orlando as abstract (abstract Nr. 3866). The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the research center at King Faisal Hospital and Research Center for their contribution on the statistical analysis. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties. There are no conflict of interest disclosures from any authors.