Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy

John Kuruvilla; Dipenkumar Modi; Armando Santoro; Ewa Paszkiewicz-Kozik; Robin Gasiorowski; Nathalie A. Johnson; Laura Maria Fogliatto; Iara Goncalves; Jose de Oliveira; Valeria Buccheri; Guilherme Fleury Perini; Neta Goldschmidt; Iryna Kriachok; Naohiro Sekiguchi; Jianxin Lin; Rushdia Yusuf; Patricia Marinello; Pier Luigi Zinzani

doi:10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805

Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy

John Kuruvilla, Dipenkumar Modi, Armando Santoro, Ewa Paszkiewicz-Kozik, Robin Gasiorowski, Nathalie A. Johnson, Laura Maria Fogliatto, Iara Goncalves, Jose de Oliveira, Valeria Buccheri, Guilherme Fleury Perini, Neta Goldschmidt, Iryna Kriachok, Naohiro Sekiguchi, Jianxin Lin, Rushdia Yusuf, Patricia Marinello, Pier Luigi Zinzani

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Abstract

This report focuses on a post hoc exploratory analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-204 study comparing pembrolizumab and brentuximab vedotin by number of prior lines of therapy in participants with relapsed/refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Of 304 participants randomly assigned (11) to pembrolizumab or brentuximab vedotin, 55 received 1 prior therapy and 249 received >= 2. For 1 prior therapy, median progression-free survival (PFS) at primary analysis (including clinical imaging data after autologous stem cell transplant [auto-SCT]) was 16.4 months with pembrolizumab and 8.4 months with brentuximab vedotin; objective response rate (ORR) was 66.7% and 53.6%. For >= 2 prior therapies, median PFS at primary analysis was 12.6 months with pembrolizumab and 8.2 months with brentuximab vedotin; ORR was 65.3% and 54.4%. Pembrolizumab improved PFS and ORR versus brentuximab vedotin regardless of prior therapies. Data suggest pembrolizumab may be a promising second-line therapy for participants with R/R cHL ineligible for auto-SCT. Clinical trial information ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02684292

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1710-1719
Number of pages	10
Journal	Leukemia and Lymphoma
Volume	66
Issue number	9
Early online date	Jun 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805
Publication status	Published - 29 Jul 2025
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) or their employers 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Pembrolizumab
Brentuximab vedotin
classical Hodgkin lymphoma

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10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805Licence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 2.56 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Kuruvilla, J., Modi, D., Santoro, A., Paszkiewicz-Kozik, E., Gasiorowski, R., Johnson, N. A., Fogliatto, L. M., Goncalves, I., de Oliveira, J., Buccheri, V., Perini, G. F., Goldschmidt, N., Kriachok, I., Sekiguchi, N., Lin, J., Yusuf, R., Marinello, P., & Zinzani, P. L. (2025). Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy. Leukemia and Lymphoma, 66(9), 1710-1719. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805

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title = "Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy",

abstract = "This report focuses on a post hoc exploratory analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-204 study comparing pembrolizumab and brentuximab vedotin by number of prior lines of therapy in participants with relapsed/refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Of 304 participants randomly assigned (11) to pembrolizumab or brentuximab vedotin, 55 received 1 prior therapy and 249 received >= 2. For 1 prior therapy, median progression-free survival (PFS) at primary analysis (including clinical imaging data after autologous stem cell transplant [auto-SCT]) was 16.4 months with pembrolizumab and 8.4 months with brentuximab vedotin; objective response rate (ORR) was 66.7\% and 53.6\%. For >= 2 prior therapies, median PFS at primary analysis was 12.6 months with pembrolizumab and 8.2 months with brentuximab vedotin; ORR was 65.3\% and 54.4\%. Pembrolizumab improved PFS and ORR versus brentuximab vedotin regardless of prior therapies. Data suggest pembrolizumab may be a promising second-line therapy for participants with R/R cHL ineligible for auto-SCT. Clinical trial information ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02684292",

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author = "John Kuruvilla and Dipenkumar Modi and Armando Santoro and Ewa Paszkiewicz-Kozik and Robin Gasiorowski and Johnson, \{Nathalie A.\} and Fogliatto, \{Laura Maria\} and Iara Goncalves and \{de Oliveira\}, Jose and Valeria Buccheri and Perini, \{Guilherme Fleury\} and Neta Goldschmidt and Iryna Kriachok and Naohiro Sekiguchi and Jianxin Lin and Rushdia Yusuf and Patricia Marinello and Zinzani, \{Pier Luigi\}",

note = "Copyright the Author(s) or their employers 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

year = "2025",

month = jul,

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doi = "10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805",

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Kuruvilla, J, Modi, D, Santoro, A, Paszkiewicz-Kozik, E, Gasiorowski, R, Johnson, NA, Fogliatto, LM, Goncalves, I, de Oliveira, J, Buccheri, V, Perini, GF, Goldschmidt, N, Kriachok, I, Sekiguchi, N, Lin, J, Yusuf, R, Marinello, P & Zinzani, PL 2025, 'Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy', Leukemia and Lymphoma, vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 1710-1719. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805

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T2 - a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy

AU - Kuruvilla, John

AU - Modi, Dipenkumar

AU - Santoro, Armando

AU - Paszkiewicz-Kozik, Ewa

AU - Gasiorowski, Robin

AU - Johnson, Nathalie A.

AU - Fogliatto, Laura Maria

AU - Goncalves, Iara

AU - de Oliveira, Jose

AU - Buccheri, Valeria

AU - Perini, Guilherme Fleury

AU - Goldschmidt, Neta

AU - Kriachok, Iryna

AU - Sekiguchi, Naohiro

AU - Lin, Jianxin

AU - Yusuf, Rushdia

AU - Marinello, Patricia

AU - Zinzani, Pier Luigi

N1 - Copyright the Author(s) or their employers 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2025/7/29

Y1 - 2025/7/29

N2 - This report focuses on a post hoc exploratory analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-204 study comparing pembrolizumab and brentuximab vedotin by number of prior lines of therapy in participants with relapsed/refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Of 304 participants randomly assigned (11) to pembrolizumab or brentuximab vedotin, 55 received 1 prior therapy and 249 received >= 2. For 1 prior therapy, median progression-free survival (PFS) at primary analysis (including clinical imaging data after autologous stem cell transplant [auto-SCT]) was 16.4 months with pembrolizumab and 8.4 months with brentuximab vedotin; objective response rate (ORR) was 66.7% and 53.6%. For >= 2 prior therapies, median PFS at primary analysis was 12.6 months with pembrolizumab and 8.2 months with brentuximab vedotin; ORR was 65.3% and 54.4%. Pembrolizumab improved PFS and ORR versus brentuximab vedotin regardless of prior therapies. Data suggest pembrolizumab may be a promising second-line therapy for participants with R/R cHL ineligible for auto-SCT. Clinical trial information ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02684292

AB - This report focuses on a post hoc exploratory analysis of the phase 3 KEYNOTE-204 study comparing pembrolizumab and brentuximab vedotin by number of prior lines of therapy in participants with relapsed/refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). Of 304 participants randomly assigned (11) to pembrolizumab or brentuximab vedotin, 55 received 1 prior therapy and 249 received >= 2. For 1 prior therapy, median progression-free survival (PFS) at primary analysis (including clinical imaging data after autologous stem cell transplant [auto-SCT]) was 16.4 months with pembrolizumab and 8.4 months with brentuximab vedotin; objective response rate (ORR) was 66.7% and 53.6%. For >= 2 prior therapies, median PFS at primary analysis was 12.6 months with pembrolizumab and 8.2 months with brentuximab vedotin; ORR was 65.3% and 54.4%. Pembrolizumab improved PFS and ORR versus brentuximab vedotin regardless of prior therapies. Data suggest pembrolizumab may be a promising second-line therapy for participants with R/R cHL ineligible for auto-SCT. Clinical trial information ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02684292

KW - Pembrolizumab

KW - Brentuximab vedotin

KW - classical Hodgkin lymphoma

U2 - 10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805

DO - 10.1080/10428194.2025.2502805

M3 - Article

C2 - 40548833

SN - 1042-8194

VL - 66

SP - 1710

EP - 1719

JO - Leukemia and Lymphoma

JF - Leukemia and Lymphoma

IS - 9

ER -

Pembrolizumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma: a post hoc analysis of KEYNOTE-204 by prior lines of therapy

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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