Hyunsuk Um, Professor, National Cancer Center,
Survival rate of new treatment combined with targeted therapy compared to standard treatment ↑
In the treatment of unexperienced stage 3 or 4 advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a new treatment using a targeted therapeutic agent improves the survival rate compared to the existing standard treatment, attracting attention.
The National Cancer Center (Director Hong-Kwan Seo) published the results of this study, which was co-authored by Professor Hyeon-Seok Um (Hematology Oncology Specialist) at the Center for Hematology and Cancer, in the latest issue of NEJM (The New England Journal of Medicine, IF=176.079), the world’s most prestigious medical journal. said to have been published.
Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a rare blood cancer that occurs in only regarding 300 people annually in Korea. ABVD has been used as standard therapy for advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma for several decades, but it has been difficult to improve overall survival.
Professor Hyeon-Seok Um, who has been focusing on lymphoma research, conducted long-term follow-up of the ‘ECHELON-1’ study to treat adult patients with stage 3 or 4 advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma without treatment experience. We compared and analyzed A+AVD, a combination therapy including tuximab vedotin.
As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the A+AVD therapy was superior to the standard therapy ABVD in all three of the overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and secondary cancer incidence. It was demonstrated that patients who received A+AVD for the treatment of stage 3 or 4 advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma had an advantage in survival than patients who received ABVD, a standard therapy.
Professor Hyunsuk Um’s research team conducted the study by dividing a total of 1,334 adult patients with stage 3 or 4 advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma without treatment experience into the A+AVD group and 670 patients into the standard therapy ABVD group.
According to the research team, the 6-year overall survival (OS) was 93.9% in the A+AVD group and 89.4% in the ABVD group, indicating a longer overall survival (OS) in the A+AVD group. Progression-free survival (PFS) was also longer in the A+AVD group than in the ABVD group. In addition, fewer patients in the A+AVD group than in the ABVD group received follow-up treatment, including transplantation. The incidence of secondary cancer was 23 in the A+AVD group and 32 in the ABVD group, and the number of secondary cancers in the A+AVD group was lower.
Professor Uhm Hyun-seok said, “The A+AVD therapy including brentuximab vedotin, an antibody drug complex used as a targeted therapy, has proven its effectiveness by obtaining results that improve survival compared to standard therapy. It means that we have made important clinical advances in the treatment of patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and we will continue to focus on research on Hodgkin’s lymphoma to establish standard treatment and contribute to the survival and quality of life of cancer patients.”
Meanwhile, Professor Hyeon-Seok Um is conducting follow-up studies to prove clinical effects, such as a study to add brentuximab vedotin, a targeted therapy, to existing anticancer therapy in recurrent Hodgkin patients.
– ABVD: standard therapy. Doxorubicin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, Dacarbazine
– A+AVD: Brentuximab vedotin combined with doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine
– Brentuximab vedotin: Brentuximab Vedotin, an antibody that can kill cancer cells by binding to CD30 protein on the surface of lymphoma cells Brentuximab-Antibody-drug conjugate
