Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a curable malignancy for most patients, while the treatment of relapsed and refractory (R/R) HL is still facing severe challenges. In the 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, many researches reported the latest development of the treatment of R/R HL. For chemosensitive patients, autologous stem cell transplantation after high-dose of salvage chemotherapy still remains the standard treatment method. The emerging of antibody drug conjugate, inhibitors of programmed death-1, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy and the combinations of multiple drugs have brought an increasing options for R/R HL treatment. This paper reviews the progress of R/R HL therapy.

In recent years, the incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is on the rise. Among the newly diagnosed NHL patients, 3 %-10 % are mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), which is common in middle-aged and elderly men, and the incidence of extranodal aggression is more in stage Ⅲ or Ⅳ. MCL has clinical and pathological features of the invasiveness in invasive lymphoma and the incurability in indolent lymphoma. Although the application of new drugs has made more progress in the treatment of MCL, the overall survival rate is not good; the majority of patients relapse after treatment, and there are no standard treatment regimens. The progresses in MCL will be summarized in this paper based on the reports in the 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.

Peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), also known as mature T-cell lymphoma, is a group of malignant proliferative diseases derived from mature T cells. Because natural killer (NK) cells are similar in immunophenotype and function to T cells, NK-cell lymphoma and mature T-cell lymphoma are often classified as one class. The 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting has covered various fields about PTCL, especially in terms of treatment. Brentuximab vedotin combined with CHP regimen, histone deacetylase inhibitor combined with HMA regimen, and classic CHOP regimen together with lenalidomide or alemtuzumab provide new options for the treatment of PTCL patients; novel drugs represented by JAK inhibitors, daratumumab, and TP53 inhibitors have also initially demonstrated clinical utility, but large-scale clinical trials are still needed for validation.

Patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after two or more lines of therapy and who are not candidates for stem cell transplantation have limited effective treatment options, resulting in a poor prognosis, thus, treatments with novel mechanisms of action are urgently needed. In the 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, detailed reports focused on the research progresses of single agent, drug combination and chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy, providing more treatment options for R/R DLBCL patients.

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a kind of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) originating from the follicular germinal center. Chemotherapy could cause a variety of adverse reactions, such as infection, secondary malignancies and myelosuppression. The new "chemotherapy-free" treatment can significantly improve the tolerance of FL patients. The emergence of chemotherapy-free regimens such as venetoclax combined with rituximab and new non-chemotherapy drugs such as anti-CD20 and anti-CD3 bispecific IgG4 antibody REGN1979 provide new therapeutic regimens and ideas for primary and relapsed/refractory FL patients.

Castleman disease (CD) is a rare group of lymphoproliferative disorders with similar clinical manifestations and pathological features to malignant lymphomas. However, due to the extremely low incidence, lack of comparison among large sample clinical cases, laboratory tests, treatment options and prognostic factors, the clinical diagnosis and treatment of CD has encountered great difficulties. The 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting has made progresses of CD. In basic research aspects, it mainly explores the relationship of serum proteomics with distinct subtypes and treatment response, gene expression and cell-driven processes of diseases, sources of high cytokine production, and so on. In terms of clinical treatments, personalized treatment based on disease activity status and specific classification provides a new hope for CD patients.

As a novel immune therapy for cancer, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy has attracted more and more attention. Toxicities of CAR-T therapy include cytokine release syndrome (CRS), neurologic toxicities and on-target, off-tumor toxicity. CRS, which is the most severe adverse event of CAR-T immunotherapy, affects many organs, such as cardiovascular, nervous, digestive, hematological systems, and so on. Besides symptomatic treatment, tocilizumab (anti-interleukin monoclonal 6 antibody), etanercept (anti-tumor necrosis factor monoclonal antibody) and glucocorticoid are the core treatments to control CRS. Better understanding of CRS promotes the application of CAR-T immunotherapy.

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a kind of indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma(iNHL). Rituximab combined with chemotherapy as the first-line treatment has achieved satisfactory results, but the relapse and progress still reappear after the first-line treatments. In the 61st of American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, more and more novel drugs including EZH2 inhibitor tazemetostat, SYK/JAK inhibitor cerdulatinib, anti-CD3-CD20 antibody mosunetuzumab and programmed death 1 inhibitor nivolumab, etc, and new strategies including rituximab combined with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody and polatuzumab combined with obinutuzumab and lenalidomide had been reported and brought an ample and promising choices for FL patients.

Objective To observe the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of adult patients with langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). Methods The clinical data of 21 adult patients with LCH≥18 years old from March 2010 to March 2017 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Southeast University and the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University were retrospectively analyzed, and the clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, treatments and prognosis were observed. Results A total of 21 patients included 14 male cases and 7 female cases. The median age was 43 years old (22-62 years old). There were 4 patients with single system and single lesion, 5 patients with single system and multi-lesion (Hand-Schuller-Christian) and 12 patients with multisystem and multi-lesion (Letter-Siwe disease). Risk-organ involvement was observed in 7 cases (3 lung cases, 2 bone marrow cases, 1 liver case and 1 spleen case ). The median overall survival time of all patients with LCH was 36 months (1-89 months), including 9 patients with single-system disease and 5 patients with multisystem disease without recurrence and unstable condition (survival time: 4-89 mouths). Among 7 patients with multisystem disease with high-risk organ involvement, 3 survived with no recurrence and 4 died from disease progression. Conclusions The incidence of adult LCH featured by the involvement of more multisystem and multi-lesion in clinic is low, and male cases are in the majority. Patients with multisystem disease and risk organ involvement have poor response to current therapy, and new treatments need to be explored.

The occurrence and development of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are related to many factors such as CLL cells, defective T cells and tumor microenvironment. The mutual interaction between tumor cells and immune cells in tumor microenvironment is an important factor for the progress of CLL. T cells, as the main members of adaptive immunity, play an ambiguous role in CLL. This review focuses on the immunodeficiency of T-cell subsets in CLL and recent advances in T-cell immunotherapy, in order to explore the potential role of T cells in the occurrence, development and outcome of CLL.