Transcriptomic studies of anti-PD1 refractory Hodgkin lymphoma patients treated with ruxolitinib and nivolumab

Treatment with checkpoint inhibitors is effective in multiple cancer types. However, even in cancer with high response rates such as Hodgkin lymphoma some patients fail to respond or relapse following an initial response to checkpoint inhibitors. In this study, we examined Hodgkin lymphoma patients enrolled in the trial of ruxolitinib with nivolumab in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (NCT03681561). Patients relapsed or refractory to anti-PD1 therapy received ruxolitinib for 8 days followed by nivolumab every 4 weeks and continued ruxolitinib twice daily. For this transcriptomic study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected at baseline and 8 days of ruxolitinib therapy and analyzed by single-cell and bulk RNA-sequencing.