PHARMACOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY (NIVOLUMAB) USING THE PD-1 PATHWAY IN ANTITUMOR TREATMENT OF HODGKIN’S LYMPHOMA

Abstract

Hodgkin’s disease, more commonly referred to Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system, lymph nodes which are defense cells of the organism. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (LH) has the Reed-Sternberg cells (RS), with immune tolerance, able to avoid the immune system recognition, since they have a state of non-specific reactivity, which results in the absence of response to antigens of the body itself. It is believed that the ability of tumor cells to avoid the action of the immune system is due to the super-expressão of the 9p24 gene, thereby increasing the protein-encoding PD-L1, which interacts with the PD-1 receptor on T cells, promoting a sign immunosuppression, which allows the tumor cell is not affected by the T lymphocyte Nivolumab, approved by the FDA in 2014 and by Anvisa in 2018, it is part of a class of drugs targeting the release of control points of the immune system that regulate the antitumor response. This drug acts by inhibition of PD-1 receptor on T cells, blocking this interaction with proteins PD-L1 and PDL2. Thus, this research it is a descriptive review of the literature and aimed to gather published information related to the use of immunotherapy with Nivolumab in order to identify their pharmacological actions, as well as adverse effects more frequent produced by this drug. From that survey concluded that Nivolumab therapy is promising since there are numerous reports of cases of remission of the tumor with fewer side effects when compared to standard therapy.