By Derek Lowe – Science –
Here’s some more good news on the immuno-oncology front. Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is one of those cancer types whose prognosis is in the “A lot better than it used to be, but. . .” category. There are several varieties (with the “classic” form being brought on by earlier Epstein-Barr virus infection), and of course it gets diagnosed at different stages of the disease. But overall, there are a number of chemotherapy/radiation treatment protocols (outlined in the link above) that have the five-year survival rate up to about 40 to 90% depending on the factors involved (age, tumor type, disease progression at diagnosis, etc.) Which is a real accomplishment! In fact, it’s one of those tumor types where the focus has moved to making sure that the treatment’s long-term side effects are not too severe, given the overall survival rates.
