OUTLINE:~PART A: Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride intravenously (IV), vinblastine IV, and dacarbazine IV on days 1 and 15. Patients also receive pembrolizumab IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 22 of cycle 1 and on day 15 of cycle 2. Treatment repeats every 28 days for up to 2 cycles in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.~PART B: Patients receive doxorubicin hydrochloride IV, vinblastine IV, dacarbazine IV, and pembrolizumab IV as in part A, but undergo a total of 6 treatment cycles.~After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 30 days and then up to 5 years.
This phase II trial studies the side effects of doxorubicin hydrochloride, pembrolizumab, vinblastine, and dacarbazine in treating patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as doxorubicin hydrochloride, vinblastine, and dacarbazine, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab, may induce changes in body's immune system and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving doxorubicin hydrochloride, pembrolizumab, vinblastine, and dacarbazine may work better in treating classical Hodgkin lymphoma.