The anti-CD80 primatized monoclonal antibody, galiximab, is well-tolerated but has limited activity in relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma: Cancer and Leukemia Group B 50602 (Alliance)

Abstract

Relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma remains a clinical challenge, with few non-cytotoxic treatment options. CD80 is a surface antigen that normally functions as a co-stimulatory molecule but is aberrantly and uniformly expressed on Reed–Sternberg cells. Galiximab is a primatized monoclonal antibody against CD80, with a favorable toxicity profile demonstrated in other lymphomas. Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 50602 (Alliance) tested single-agent galiximab in a highly refractory group of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (median 3 prior regimens, 83% failing after prior stem cell transplant) to determine the efficacy. The overall response rate was 10.3% and the median progression-free survival was 1.6 months. Galiximab was well-tolerated, with minimal grade 3 or 4 toxicities. Despite this preclinical rationale, single-agent galiximab had limited activity in heavily pretreated Hodgkin lymphoma.

Keywords::

• Hodgkin lymphoma
• galiximab
• CD80
• clinical trial

Acknowledgements

The research for CALGB 50602 (Alliance) was supported, in part, by grants from the National Cancer Institute (CA31946) to the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, Chair) and to the Alliance Statistics and Data Center (Daniel J. Sargent, PhD, CA33601). The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute.

Potential conflict of interest:

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at www.informahealthcare.com/lal.

S.M.S. was supported by CA41287, H.S. was supported by CA77651, J.L.J. was supported by CA33601, N.L.B. was supported by CA77440 and B.D.C. was supported by CA77597.

Appendix

The following institutions participated in this study:

• Christiana Care Health Services, Inc. CCOP, Wilmington, DE; Stephen Grubbs, MD, supported by CA45418

• Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC; Minetta C. Liu, MD, supported by CA77597

• Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY; Lewis R. Silverman, MD, supported by CA04457

• Southeast Cancer Control Consortium, Inc. CCOP, Goldsboro, NC; James N. Atkins, MD, supported by CA45808

• University of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Hedy L. Kindler, MD, supported by CA41287

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC; Thomas C. Shea, MD, supported by CA47559

• Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC; David D. Hurd, MD, supported by CA03927

• Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; Nancy Bartlett, MD, supported by CA77440

• Western Pennsylvania Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA; John Lister, MD

• Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY; John Leonard, MD, supported by CA07968