International Collaboration Yields a Model to Predict Risk in Early-Stage cHL

An individualized risk prediction model has been developed for adult patients with early-stage classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cHL). The model, termed the Early-stage Hodgkin International Prognostication Index (E-HIPI), was jointly developed by researchers from RWJBarnabas Health, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Tufts Medical Center, and The University of Manchester. RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute issued a press release announcing the new model.

With their international research partners, RWJBarnabas Health, Rutgers Cancer Institute, and Tufts Medical Center previously developed the Advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma International Prognostication Index (A-HIPI), a model for predicting 5-year progression-free and overall survival in adults with advanced cHL.

The E-HIPI was developed using data from 3,000 adult patients with early-stage cHL in four international phase 3 clinical trials. The model estimates patients’ 2-year progression-free survival using objective measurements and laboratory test results that are routinely recorded for patients in the clinic.

In a validation study, the E-HIPI was tested in more than 2,300 patients with early-stage cHL from two real-world registry cohorts and showed favorable performance results. Findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Evidence and presented at the 18th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) in Lugano, Switzerland. At ICML, the results were presented by study co–first author Andrew M. Evens, DO, MBA, MSc, who is system director of Medical Oncology and oncology lead at RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group and deputy director for clinical services at Rutgers Cancer Institute.

“Through this global collaboration with researchers at Tufts Medical Center, The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and all our international partners, we developed a robust, dynamic, and data-driven model that leverages common clinical variables to generate more precise predictive insights,” Dr. Evens remarked.

The development and validation study of the E-HIPI model received substantial support from the Hodgkin Lymphoma International Study for Individual Care (HoLISTIC) Consortium. The Consortium provides access to global data from randomized clinical trials and cancer registries and continues to be a major resource for the researchers’ ongoing work to develop the E-HIPI model.

“The success of this effort underscores the power of cross-border partnership, and its potential to deliver meaningful, real-world benefits to patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma worldwide,” commented co–senior author for the study John Radford, MD, FMedSci, of The University of Manchester, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, and the Manchester Biomedical Research Centre under the National Institute for Health and Care Research in the UK.