INTRODUCTION
PD‐L1, death, tumor, cancers, HL, hematological cancers, leukemia, hematological malignancies, Cemi, PTCL, DLBCL, Hodgkin lymphoma, NHL
TUMOR, CANCERS, LEUKEMIA, MULTIPLE MYELOMA (MM), HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES, HODGKIN LYMPHOMA, NHL, LYMPHOMA
Immune checkpoint blockade has contributed to the efficacy of targeted anti‐programmed death 1 (PD‐1)/anti‐programmed death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) agents in many tumor types, with clinical responses observed in a small proportion of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and rare non‐HL (NHL) subtypes.The expression of the transmembrane glycoprotein CD38 is well documented in hematological cancers, including multiple myeloma (MM), certain types of lymphoma, and leukemia; the prevalence and expression level of CD38 is lower and more variable in non‐MM cancers.Isatuximab (Isa) is an IgG1 monoclonal antibody that targets a specific epitope on CD38 and kills CD38+ cells from hematological malignancies via multiple mechanisms.In view of preclinical evidence for the activity of Isa in lymphoma, coupled with early studies showing suboptimal clinical activity of single‐agent anti‐PD‐1 antibodies in HL, DLBCL, and PTCL, we hypothesize that Isa plus Cemi (Isa + Cemi) will have a synergistic effect in patients with lymphoma. Currently, data on Isa activity in PTCL are lacking; however, we included patients with PTCL because CD38, PD‐1, and PD‐L1 are expressed in certain types of PTCL.