RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of two combination chemotherapy regimens in treating patients with Hodgkin's disease and HIV infection.

OBJECTIVES: I. Investigate the effects on survival, life expectancy and quality, toxicity, and immunological status in low risk patients with Hodgkin's Disease and HIV infection treated with the Stanford V regimen and in high risk patients treated with epirubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and prednisone.

PROTOCOL OUTLINE: Patients are stratified into 2 groups designated as low and high risk on the basis of ECOG performance status (0-2 vs 3-4), presence or absence of AIDS before the diagnosis of Hodgkin's Disease, and immune status (CD4+ cell count greater vs no greater than 100/mm3). Low risk patients (those with no risk factors) receive the EBVP regimen, as follows: Epirubicin intravenously on day 1 Bleomycin intramuscularly or intravenously on day 1 Vinblastine intravenously on day 1 Prednisone orally on days 1-5 Patients also receive daily injections of filgrastim (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; G-CSF) on days 6-15. This schedule is repeated every 3 weeks for 6 courses. High risk patients (those with one or more risk factors) receive the Stanford V regimen, as follows: Doxorubicin and vinblastine intravenously on days 1 and 15 Mechlorethamine intravenously on day 1 Vincristine and bleomycin intravenously on days 8 and 22 Etoposide intravenously on days 15 and 16 Prednisone orally daily Patients also receive daily injections of G-CSF on days 3-7, 9-13, 17-21, and 23-26. This schedule is repeated every 28 days for 3 courses. Patients are followed every 2 months the first year and then every 3 months thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: 20-30 patients will initially be accrued in this study.

Ages Eligible for Study:  18 Years and above

Criteria

PROTOCOL ENTRY CRITERIA:

--Disease Characteristics--

Histologically proven Hodgkin's disease:

• Clinical or pathologic stage II - IV
• Stage I with bulky disease (tumor size greater than 10 cm) and B symptoms Confirmed HIV infection

--Prior/Concurrent Therapy--

• No prior therapy for Hodgkin's disease
• Concurrent triple-drug antiretroviral therapy (including one protease inhibitor) required

--Patient Characteristics--

Age: 18 and over

Performance status: WHO 0-4

Life expectancy: Not specified

Hematopoietic: Not specified

Hepatic: Not specified

Renal: Not specified

Cardiovascular: No severe cardiac disease

Pulmonary: No severe pulmonary disease

Other:

• No severe neurologic or metabolic disease
• No concurrent or prior second malignancy except: *Nonmelanomatous skin cancer *In situ cancer of the cervix