Dawn Johnson, San Antonio

New Immunotherapy Drug

Approved for Hodgkin Lymphoma

Introduction With a degree in mass communications and journalism from

Kansas State University, Dawn Johnson went on to hold several leadership and marketing positions with San Antonio’s USAA financial services firm. Dawn Johnson also sits on the board of the San Antonio Clubhouse and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).

The LLS recently reported on a new type of immunotherapy that has been approved for patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma who are not responding to the common treatments. While Hodgkin's lymphoma is a generally treatable condition with an 88 percent or higher survival rate, this new drug, pembrolizumab, can help people who relapse or have limited treatment options.

Pembrolizumab works by targeting PD-1, a protein that interacts with PD-L1 to prevent the immune system from recognizing and eliminating cancer cells. Hodgkin's lymphoma is the latest cancer to be successfully treated with this type of immunotherapy, which has already been approved to treat melanoma, one form of lung cancer, as well as head and neck cancer.