Disease Briefing

Hodgkin lymphoma: research and therapeutic landscape

A live synthesis of what is being targeted, what is being trialled, which datasets exist, and where the actionable gaps sit — assembled from public APIs, with every figure traceable to its source.

Generated 2026-09-12Sources Open Targets · ClinicalTrials.gov · openFDA · GEO · PubMed · Europe PMC · iCite · RePORTERRanked 92 studies · 2,506 GEO samples
Reading as
Reorders emphasis only — nothing is hidden or loaded on demand.

Answer block

12 genes recurrently implicated in hodgkin lymphoma — TNFRSF8, PDCD1, CD274, PDCD1LG2, JAK2, B2M, SOCS1, TNFAIP3, XPO1, CIITA, REL, MS4A1 — triaged for what can actually be aimed at them, alongside the trials, public datasets, literature and funding around the disease. Every figure below carries its source and retrieval date in the section it comes from.

4
drugs carry an FDA label naming hodgkin lymphoma: Bendamustine, Brentuximab Vedotin, Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab. This counts labels, not treatment — the disease is also treated with agents approved under broader indications
2
of the 12 genes above carry a drug that is approved in hodgkin lymphoma itself — PDCD1, TNFRSF8. Across all of them 94 drug entries reach these genes, 89 distinct once salt forms are merged
35
registered PD-1 cell-therapy trials in hodgkin lymphoma, 13 active and 1 withdrawn. Counted from ClinicalTrials.gov across 8 synonyms, deduplicated by NCT id, interventional studies only — the query is published in the JSON beside this page so the number can be re-derived
5
targets carry an Open Targets tractability signal and have no clinical programme of any kind: PDCD1LG2, B2M, TNFAIP3, CIITA, REL. TNFRSF8, PDCD1, MS4A1 all have cell-therapy trials, so they are undrugged rather than untouched
300
human GEO series match the disease; 92 survive on-topic filtering, and only 4 are patient cohorts of 100+ samples
92
Europe PMC full-text papers name GSE12453 — the highest accession-mention count in the set. A mention is not proof of reanalysis, so read it as reach rather than reuse
$3.9M
NIH obligations in FY2025, up -38% since 2013 — while distinct core projects went 9 to 11. More distinct projects (+22%) rather than larger ones; core projects are not the same unit as laboratories

Target landscape

Open Targets · retrieved 2026-09-12 · weekly

12 genes recurrently implicated in hodgkin lymphoma, triaged for whether anything can actually be aimed at them. The zeros are the informative rows.

Of 12 recurrently implicated genes, 7 carry any drug at all. That is a statement about these 12 gene targets, not about the disease: Hodgkin lymphoma does have labelled therapy — 4 drugs, listed in the next section.

Two different questions

The table below asks what can be aimed at 12 recurrently implicated genes. That is narrower than what is approved for the disease, and narrower again than what hodgkin lymphoma is actually treated with, which includes agents approved under broader indications. All three are on this page and they are kept apart deliberately.

GeneDrugsApproval, and whether it reached this diseaseOpen Targets tractabilitycomputed from protein features and literature — a signal that a modality is worth trying, not evidence that it worksCell therapy here
TNFRSF8 4 1 approvedBrentuximab VedotinApproved in hodgkin lymphoma: Brentuximab Vedotin.92 active of 315 hodgkin lymphoma trials antibody, other clinical modality, protein degrader 12 active of 21 trials
PDCD1 across cancers → 26 9 approvedCemiplimab, Dostarlimab, Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab, Retifanlimab, Serplulimab, Sintilimab, Tislelizumab, ToripalimabApproved in hodgkin lymphoma: Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab.142 active of 352 hodgkin lymphoma trials antibody, other clinical modality, protein degrader, small molecule 13 active of 35 trials
CD274 across cancers → 13 5 approvedAtezolizumab, Avelumab, Cosibelimab, Durvalumab, SugemalimabApproved in urothelial carcinoma, non-small cell lung carcinoma, breast cancer and 6 other indications. No hodgkin lymphoma indication appears on these drugs’ labels.13 active of 58 hodgkin lymphoma trials antibody, other clinical modality, protein degrader, small molecule
PDCD1LG2 1 Phase 1Rhigm12B7No hodgkin lymphoma trial of any of these drugs antibody, protein degrader
JAK2 across cancers → 26 13 approvedBaricitinib, Delgocitinib, Deuruxolitinib, Fedratinib, Filgotinib, Lestaurtinib, Momelotinib, Momelotinib Dihydrochloride, Pacritinib, Ruxolitinib, Tofacitinib, Upadacitinib, Upadacitinib HemihydrateApproved in juvenile idiopathic arthritis, atopic eczema, rheumatoid arthritis and 16 other indications. No hodgkin lymphoma indication appears on these drugs’ labels.18 active of 45 hodgkin lymphoma trials antibody, protein degrader, small molecule
B2M 0 No drug antibody, protein degrader, small molecule
SOCS1 0 No drug
TNFAIP3 0 No drug protein degrader
XPO1 across cancers → 1 1 approvedSelinexorApproved in plasma cell myeloma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. No hodgkin lymphoma indication appears on these drugs’ labels.16 active of 30 hodgkin lymphoma trials protein degrader, small molecule
CIITA 0 No drug protein degrader
REL 0 No drug protein degrader
MS4A1 across cancers → 18 11 approvedEpcoritamab, Glofitamab, Mosunetuzumab, Obinutuzumab, Ocrelizumab, Odronextamab, Ofatumumab, Rituximab, Tositumomab, Ublituximab, Yttrium Y 90 Ibritumomab TiuxetanApproved in follicular lymphoma, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and 10 other indications. No hodgkin lymphoma indication appears on these drugs’ labels.262 active of 702 hodgkin lymphoma trials antibody, other clinical modality, protein degrader, small molecule 15 active of 32 trials

Dataset evidence counts studies in the 92-study ranked set whose title or abstract names the gene; the bar is scaled to JAK2. Sources: Open Targets Platform and NCBI GEO, retrieved 2026-09-12. Clinical stage is the highest reached for any indication — see the per-drug indications noted in each row. Target-prioritisation reference only; not clinical or prescribing guidance.

What is actually approved here

openFDA drug labels · weekly

4 drugs carry an FDA label naming hodgkin lymphoma: Bendamustine, Brentuximab Vedotin, Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab. Separately, 37 of the drugs returned for the genes in the table above are approved only for other diseases and reach hodgkin lymphoma through trials, not through their labels.

4Labelled for hodgkin lymphomaFDA INDICATIONS AND USAGE names the disease
37Approved, but for another diseasereturned for the genes in the table above
2Backbone agents listing itbroad cytotoxics whose labels name many tumours
13Active PD-1 cell-therapy trialsof 35 registered

Every label that names hodgkin lymphoma

DrugRoleWhat the label says
BendamustineBELRAPZO, BENDAMUSTINE HYDROCHLORIDE, BendamustineLabelled hereNon-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) TREANDA is indicated for the treatment of patients with indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has progressed during or within six months of treatment with rituximab or a rituximab-containing regimen.
Brentuximab VedotinADCETRISLabelled hereClassical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL) Consolidation ADCETRIS is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with cHL at high risk of relapse or progression as post-autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) consolidation.
NivolumabOPDIVOLabelled hereClassical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL) • adult and pediatric (12 years and older) patients with previously untreated, Stage III or IV classical Hodgkin lymphoma in combination with doxorubicin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (AVD).
PembrolizumabKEYTRUDALabelled hereClassical Hodgkin Lymphoma (cHL) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory cHL.
DoxorubicinDOXOrubicin Hydrochloride, Doxorubicin Hydrochloride, Doxorubicin hydrochlorideBackbonefor the treatment of: acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, metastatic breast cancer, metastatic Wilms' tumor, metastatic neuroblastoma, metastatic soft tissue sarcoma, metastatic bone sarcomas, metastatic ovarian carcinoma, metastatic transitional cell bladder carcinoma, metastatic thyroid carcinoma, metastatic gastric carcinoma, met...
MethotrexateJYLAMVO, METHOTREXATE, MethotrexateBackboneTreatment of adults with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma as part of a metronomic combination regimen

3 labels match indications_and_usage:"Hodgkin lymphoma" OR indications_and_usage:"classical Hodgkin"; they collapse to 6 distinct molecules once salt forms, biosimilars and co-formulated hyaluronidase are merged. Source: openFDA drug label API (api.fda.gov/drug/label.json), retrieved 2026-09-12. Labels change; this reflects the current label text, not the approval history. Not prescribing guidance.

Cell therapy against PD-1

ClinicalTrials.gov · retrieved 2026-09-12 · weekly

PD-1 is the busiest cell-therapy antigen in hodgkin lymphoma: 35 registered trials, 13 still active, 1 withdrawn before enrolling anyone. It has no gene entry of its own and is reached through PDCD1: the checkpoint receptor PDCD1 encodes, on the T cell; the tumour amplifies its ligands at 9p24.1, which is why the antibodies work here in almost everyone.

TrialPhaseStatusTitleLast update
NCT056596281RecruitingCD19 CAR-T Expressing IL-7 and CCL19 Combined With Anti-PD1 in RR-DLBCL2022-12-21
NCT066950132RecruitingImmunobridging/Maintenance Therapy Versus Non-bridging Therapy in CAR-T Therapy for Low-risk R/R B-NHL2025-01-24
NCT057413591RecruitingThe Safety and Efficacy of BRL-201 in the Treatment of r/r B Lymphocyte Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma2025-11-25
NCT073682701RecruitingSafety and Efficacy Study of Anti-PD1 Armored CD19 CAR-T Cells in Adult Subjects With Relapsed or Refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma2026-01-28
NCT074899892RecruitingEnhancing CAR-T Cell Therapy Efficacy in B-cell Lymphoma Via Chidamide and PD-1 Inhibitor Combination.2026-03-24
NCT076782293RecruitingBRIDGE-NK: Immunotherapy Versus Chemotherapy Induction Followed by Autologous HSCT in Advanced NKTCL2026-08-13
NCT053528281ActiveAutologous CD30.CAR-T in Combination With Nivolumab in cHL Patients After Failure of Frontline Therapy2023-04-03
NCT04134325EARLY/1ActiveStudy of PD-1 Inhibitors After CD30.CAR T Cell Therapy in Relapsed/Refractory Hodgkin Lymphoma2026-04-17
NCT062428342ActivePembrolizumab and Tazemetostat to Overcome Immune Tolerance Following ASCT or CAR T-cell Therapy in Patients With Aggressive B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma2026-07-13
NCT038432941ActiveTumor Associated Antigen Specific T Cells (TAA-T) With PD1 Inhibitor for Lymphoma2026-08-14

10 of 35 shown, most recently active first. Other antigens searched: CD20 (32), CD30 (21), CD25 (5), CD47 (1), CTLA-4 (1). Source: ClinicalTrials.gov API v2, retrieved 2026-09-12. Trials are matched on the antigen named in the title or intervention, so a trial stating only a product code is missed.

Research momentum

PubMed MeSH · monthly

Every term below is a share of the hodgkin lymphoma literature, not a count, because the field itself grew: 2015–2018 (n=1,827) against 2021–2025 (n=1,695). A topic whose papers doubled while the field doubled has not risen.

Rising, with a real baseline

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Lymphoma1.15%4.9%4.26×83 papers
Progression-Free Survival1.04%3.3%3.18×56 papers
Denmark0.27%0.71%2.59×12 papers
Cancer Survivors1.04%2.6%2.5×44 papers
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local6.57%14.04%2.14×238 papers
Surveys and Questionnaires0.6%1.24%2.06×21 papers
Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized1.92%3.89%2.03×66 papers
Cross-Sectional Studies0.66%1.3%1.98×22 papers
Lymphadenopathy0.66%1.3%1.98×22 papers
Quality of Life1.53%2.89%1.89×49 papers

Cooling

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Antineoplastic Agents10.56%1.95%0.18×33 papers
Radiotherapy3.72%0.71%0.19×12 papers
Survival Analysis5.47%1.06%0.19×18 papers
Disease-Free Survival10.56%2.12%0.2×36 papers
Antibodies, Monoclonal3.89%0.77%0.2×13 papers
Kaplan-Meier Estimate4.43%0.94%0.21×16 papers

Biggest topics now

MeSH term2015–182021–25ChangeShare now
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols25.67%26.67%1.04×452 papers
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local6.57%14.04%2.14×238 papers
Doxorubicin11.0%13.33%1.21×226 papers
Prognosis13.63%12.27%0.9×208 papers
Brentuximab Vedotin9.2%10.68%1.16×181 papers
Bleomycin10.24%10.68%1.04×181 papers
Treatment Outcome19.54%10.44%0.53×177 papers
Vinblastine9.14%10.21%1.12×173 papers
Dacarbazine8.81%9.85%1.12×167 papers
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation8.76%8.91%1.02×151 papers

Publication mix

Type2015–182021–25
Clinical Trial0.1%0.1%
Randomized Controlled Trial2.5%2.4%
Review13.9%11.3%
Meta-Analysis1.4%0.9%
Case Reports0.0%3.2%

Query: Hodgkin Disease[MeSH Major Topic] NOT ("Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse"[MeSH] OR "Lymphoma, T-Cell"[MeSH] OR "Lymphoma, Follicular"[MeSH] OR "Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell"[MeSH] OR "Burkitt Lymphoma"[MeSH]). Terms need at least 12 papers in the recent window and, in the rising table, at least 5 in the earlier one — a term going from 1 paper to 12 is a large fold change and no evidence of anything. Ubiquitous descriptors (Humans, Animals, age bands) and the disease’s own term are dropped. Source: PubMed MeSH, retrieved 2026-09-12.

Disease burden

What the public sources count, and how closely each category matches this disease. The same figures for every disease on the site are on one table.

MeasureValueMatchWhat it counts
New cases each year8,920 cases/yeardirect2026
Deaths each year1,100 deaths/yeardirect2026
Incidence rate2.5 cases per 100,000 people per yeardirect2019-2023
Death rate0.2 deaths per 100,000 people per yeardirect2020-2024
People living with it240,775 people living with the diseasedirect2023
Median age at diagnosis38.0 yearsdirect2019-2023
median age at death72 yearsdirect2020-2024
Five-year relative survival89.3%direct2016-2022

Years of life lost

4.3 years per case, 38,559 a year, from survival and age at diagnosis rather than from a death count. derived proxy What this costs to fund is in Funding.

3 assumptions behind this estimate
  • Five-year relative survival stands in for cure; a death after five years is not counted.
  • The median age at diagnosis stands in for the whole age distribution.
  • Life expectancy at birth (78.4 years) is the reference, rather than remaining expectancy at the age of death from a life table.
  • Each assumption moves the result by more than the difference between the two diseases currently on this site, so this figure separates a disease from one ten times its size, not from a close neighbour.

Funding

NIH RePORTER · quarterly

NIH obligations naming hodgkin lymphoma, after removing the 2,018 records across all years that matched the search but are about something else. That filter is not cosmetic: without it this section reports another field’s funding as this disease’s.

$3.9MNIH obligations, FY2025from $6.4M in FY2013 · -38%
11distinct projects funded9 in FY2013
$15.1Mpeak year was FY2021obligations, all institutes
92%of FY2025 awards from NCI11 of 12

NIH obligations by fiscal year

$4M$8M$11M$15M13151719212325
YearObligationsAwardsDistinct projectsDropped as off-topic
FY2013$6.4M99156
FY2014$5.8M109188
FY2015$6.4M88158
FY2016$4.9M55144
FY2017$8.5M44144
FY2018$8.8M66190
FY2019$8.1M77156
FY2020$5.8M1110150
FY2021$15.1M1212153
FY2022$10.7M1312164
FY2023$12.0M98138
FY2024$9.8M1313142
FY2025$3.9M1211135

Where FY2025 money went

InstitutionObligationsAwards
Stanford University$0.9M2
Tufts Medical Center$0.7M1
Research Inst Of Fox Chase Can Ctr$0.4M1
University Of Florida$0.4M1
Rush University Medical Center$0.3M1
St. Jude Children'S Research Hospital$0.2M1
Beckman Research Institute/City Of Hope$0.2M1
University Of Miami School Of Medicine$0.2M1
Washington University$0.2M1
Utah State Higher Education System--University Of Utah$0.2M1

Text search Hodgkin lymphoma over project title, terms and abstract, per fiscal year. Awards are individual funding actions; distinct projects collapse them by core project number, so a multi-year grant counts once. The most recent year may be incomplete. Source: NIH RePORTER, retrieved 2026-09-12.

What that buys

Against 38,559 years of life lost a year, FY2025 obligations are $102 per life-year — $441 per case. The estimate and its assumptions are in Disease burden.

Who funds it, FY2025

The total says how much. These say who from, through what kind of award, and to whom — which a dollar figure cannot.

NIH institutes

NCI11 · 92%
NIDDK1 · 8%

Projects by administering institute. The rows above are the top 2 and account for 12 of 12.

Award mechanisms

R014 · 33%
K222 · 17%
R502 · 17%
R372 · 17%
K081 · 8%
R211 · 8%

R01 is an investigator-initiated grant; ZIA is NIH intramural, meaning the work happens inside NIH rather than being funded outside it. The rows above are the top 6 and account for 12 of 12.

Where it lands

Stanford University$0.9M · 23.8%
Tufts Medical Center$0.7M · 16.9%
Research Inst Of Fox Chase Can Ctr$0.4M · 10.9%
University Of Florida$0.4M · 9.8%
Rush University Medical Center$0.3M · 8.7%
St. Jude Children'S Research Hospital$0.2M · 5.4%

Share of $3.9M in FY2025. The top three hold 52%.

Public datasets, ranked

NCBI GEO + Europe PMC + iCite · weekly

300 human GEO series match hodgkin lymphoma. Keyword relevance cannot tell a 142-sample patient cohort from a six-well cell-line experiment, so this ranking scores four things GEO does not expose: how often the accession is named in full-text papers, field-normalised citation impact, clinical annotation, and cohort type.

Composition of the 92-study ranked set

cell line 36unspecified 27patient 19mixed 10
36 cell line27 unspecified19 patient10 mixed41 carry clinical annotation15 carry survival4 patient cohorts ≥100 GEO samples2,506 GEO samples totalin 5 single-cell series a GEO sample is one cell, not one patient

Established

high reuse, older
AccessionStudySamplesMentionsEurope PMCRCREvidence
GSE17920Expression data of diagnostic biopsy samples from Hodgkin lymphoma patients2010 · array1302522.9
patient cohortAPT 0.95survivalmolecular1,031 cites
GSE12453Origin and pathogenesis of lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma as revealed by global gene expression analysis2008 · array67925.3
APT 0.75molecular266 cites
GSE14879Gene expression study of anaplastic large cell lymphomas: cellular origin, pathogenesis and relation to Hodgkin lymphoma2009 · array642810.7
APT 0.95molecularCD30378 cites
GSE22208Integrative analysis reveals selective 9p24.1 amplification, increased PD-1 ligand expression, and further induction via JAK2 in nodular sclerosing Hodgkin lymphoma and primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma2010 · array48422.2
cell lineAPT 0.95molecularJAK2PD-1PD-L11,062 cites
GSE13996Molecular profiling of classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma tissues2008 · array7374.3
patient cohortAPT 0.75survivalmolecular190 cites
GSE120124Expression data from 40 lymphomas (Hodgkin, B cell, T cell)2018 · array4030.7
patient cohortAPT 0.05survivalstagemolecularPD-1PD-L121 cites
GSE20988Cooperative Epigenetic Modulation by Cancer Amplicon Genes2011 · array1624.2
APT 0.75survivalmolecularJAK2221 cites
GSE25990Hodgkin lymphoma2010 · array16510.3
APT 0.75483 cites

Recent

2022 onward, by score
AccessionStudySamplesMentionsEurope PMCRCREvidence
GSE184662Radiogenomics features of tumor dissemination in ABVD treated cHL patients2023 · other12612.7
patient cohortAPT 0.9536 cites
GSE245920T cell states, repertoire and function in classical Hodgkin lymphoma revealed through single-cell analyses2024 · single-cell3810.9
patient cohortAPT 0.25survivalmolecularPD-1PD-L110 cites
GSE244989Circulating tumor DNA for monitoring classic Hodgkin lymphoma patients: correlation with FDG-PET/CT2023 · sequencing14211.2
patient cohortAPT 0.5molecular11 cites
GSE212902Histological subtypes drive distinct prognostic immune signatures in classical Hodgkin lymphoma.2022 · array6610.3
patient cohortAPT 0.25survivalmolecular3 cites
GSE211122Sperm DNA methylome abnormalities occur both pre- and post-treatment in men with Hodgkin disease and testicular cancer.2023 · methylation6511.7
APT 0.511 cites
GSE308257Role of non-coding RNAs in classical hodgkin’s lymphoma treated within the EuroNet-PHL-C2 study2026 · sequencing701
patient cohortAPT 0.05survivalmolecular

Sources: NCBI GEO + Europe PMC + iCite, retrieved 2026-09-12. SubSeries are collapsed to one row per study by linked PMID. Of 300 series retrieved, 80 were dropped by the profile’s exclusion rules and 90 named the disease only in passing. The ranked set is a relevance-ranked sample, not a census, so the composition figures describe the sample only.

Where the gaps are

Derived from the sections above · recomputed on every refresh

Each card below is a disagreement between two of the tables on this page — a drug that exists but was never tried here, a target that looks tested and was not, a gene with no drug whose product has a busy clinical programme. They are computed from the same facts as the tables, so they cannot contradict them.

B2M

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

SOCS1

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

TNFAIP3

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

CIITA

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

REL

No drug, no trial, no clinical programme of any kind. Whatever the biology says, nothing has been built.

How a machine reads this page

Static

This page is written to be quoted correctly by a model as much as read by a person. The same facts are available as JSON at the sibling URL below, which is what to cite. The cross-disease layer — burden, genes, drugs and antigens across every briefing — is described at /disease/api.json.

Fully server-rendered

Every figure is in the HTML at first byte. No JavaScript runs, no figure is fetched after load, and nothing on this page requires a renderer to see.

Every number carries a source

Each section names the API it came from and the date it was retrieved: Open Targets (2026-09-12), ClinicalTrials.gov (2026-09-12), openFDA (2026-09-12), NCBI GEO (2026-09-12), PubMed (2026-09-12), NIH RePORTER (2026-09-12).

Negatives stated explicitly

Where nothing exists for hodgkin lymphoma — no drug, no trial, no approval — the page says so in those words rather than omitting the row. An absent row is unquotable; a stated negative is the finding.

Denominators, not just percentages

Every share is printed with the count and the total it came from, so a figure can be checked rather than taken.

The filters are published

4 exclusion patterns are applied to free text before anything is ranked, because none of consequence is used as a model system in none: the Hodgkin lines are used for the disease. What was removed and why is stated in each section rather than silently applied.

{
  "disease": "Hodgkin lymphoma",
  "mesh": "Hodgkin Disease",
  "facts": "https://usebiotransfer.org/disease/hodgkin-lymphoma.json",
  "methods": "https://usebiotransfer.org/methods/",
  "all_diseases": "https://usebiotransfer.org/disease/api.json",
  "note": "Every figure on the page is in that JSON with its source and retrieval date. Quote from it rather than from the HTML."
}