cyclophosphamide + vincristine + prednisone + dacarbazine + etoposide + doxorubicin

This multi-agent chemotherapy regimen is primarily utilized in the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, particularly within pediatric and adolescent oncology protocols. It represents a combination of the OEPA (vincristine, etoposide, prednisone, doxorubicin) and COPDAC (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone, dacarbazine) regimens. The combination integrates multiple mechanisms of action: alkylating agents (cyclophosphamide, dacarbazine) that cross-link DNA, anthracyclines (doxorubicin) and epipodophyllotoxins (etoposide) that inhibit topoisomerase II, vinca alkaloids (vincristine) that disrupt microtubule assembly, and corticosteroids (prednisone) that induce apoptosis in lymphoid cells. This specific intensive strategy is often evaluated in large-scale clinical trials, such as the EuroNet-PHL-C1 study, as a means to maintain high cure rates while reducing the long-term toxicities associated with older regimens like BEACOPP, specifically by substituting dacarbazine for procarbazine to mitigate gonadotoxicity and omitting bleomycin to avoid pulmonary toxicity.

Other names

OEPA-COPDAC componentsCOPDAC-E components