Therapeutic options for patients with Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who relapse after autologous transplant.

Overview

Although autologous stem cell transplantation for Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has become a safe and effective therapy, relapses after transplant are common. Emerging data indicate that an increasing number of patients can be re-induced into durable complete remission. Conventional dose- salvage chemotherapy and single-agent monoclonal antibody treatment provided limited success, but combination chemotherapy-monoclonal antibody treatments, second autografts, and reduced-intensity conditioning allografts provide encouraging results. For some patients, the best strategy may consist of participation in phase I to II studies of novel agents. New strategies designed to prevent relapse after autograft include cytokine therapy such as interleukin-2 in combination with monoclonal antibodies and the use of autologous antilymphoma vaccines.