A combination of two new drugs that utilize the body's immune system is safe and effective against Hodgkin lymphoma.

Researchers found that the combination of brentuximab vedotin (marketed as Adcentris) and nivolumab (Opdivo) decreased tumor size or spread (achieved remission) to some degree in all patients after three months of treatment.

Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that begins in a type of blood cell (lymphocytes) made in the bone marrow and found in blood and lymph tissue. Lymphocytes don't mature and are unable to carry out their normal function, which is to defend the body against infection.

In most patients, the new drug combo destroyed most cancer cells in 64 percent of patients with recurrent Hodgkin lymphoma.

The multicenter clinical trial was led by a researcher at the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center. It was conducted in patients for whom initial chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation had failed to stop cancer cell growth.

The therapy was mostly well tolerated and side effects, such as itchiness and rash, were manageable. Only two patients who experienced inflammation in the lungs withdrew from treatment.

The new treatment delivers a one-two punch that works similar to a Trojan horse, according to researchers. Brentuximab vedotin homes in on CD30, a protein on the surface of some Hodgkin lymphoma cells, and then delivers an attached dose of chemotherapy to destroy the cell.

Nivolumab turns off an inhibitory switch, called PD1on T cell surfaces, which is known to prevent the immune system from identifying and attacking tumor cells.