PURPOSE

A primary analysis of the ongoing NIVAHL trial demonstrated unexpectedly high interim complete response rates to nivolumab-based first-line treatment in early-stage unfavorable Hodgkin lymphoma. However, biomarkers such as metabolic tumor volume (MTV) or total lesion glycolysis (TLG) and their change under treatment (ΔMTV and ΔTLG), measured on PET, might provide additional relevant information for response assessment in this setting. Hence, the current analysis aimed to investigate early response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy beyond conventional criteria.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

NIVAHL is a prospective, randomized phase II trial that recruited between April 2017 and October 2018. Patients in arms A and B were assessed for early treatment response after two courses of doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine with two concomitant nivolumab infusions per cycle (2 × N-AVD) and 4 × nivolumab, respectively. In the current analysis, we included all 59 individuals with PET images available to the central review panel for quantitative analysis before April 30, 2019.

RESULTS

At interim restaging, we determined a mean ΔMTV and ΔTLG of -99.8% each in arm A after 2 × N-AVD, compared with -91.4% and -91.9%, respectively, for treatment group B undergoing 4 × nivolumab. This high decrease in MTV and TLG was observed regardless of the initial lymphoma burden.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study showed that nivolumab-based first-line treatment leads to rapid, near-complete reduction of tumor metabolism in early-stage unfavorable Hodgkin lymphoma. Thus, PET-derived biomarkers might allow reduction or even omission of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Furthermore, MTV and TLG could be also used to optimize immune checkpoint-targeting treatments in other cancers.