Pidilizumab in Treating Patients With Stage III-IV Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Following First Remission

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To estimate the rate of response, whereby either cluster of differentiation (CD)4+CD25+programmed death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1)+ T lymphocytes or CD4+CD62L+CD127+ T lymphocytes has an "increase" following administration of pidilizumab in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that have completed induction chemotherapy. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To determine the toxicity and tolerability of pidilizumab therapy following induction chemotherapy. II. To estimate the progression free survival (PFS) at 2 years. III. To estimate the overall survival (OS) at 2 years. IV. To estimate time to second line chemotherapy (TSLC) at 2 years. TERTIARY OBJECTIVES: I. To characterize programmed death 1 (PD-1) pathway specific expression markers from the diagnostic biopsy specimens. II. To characterize serum biomarkers of immune and inflammatory response during treatment with pidilizumab. III. To characterize levels of soluble PD-L1 related to treatment with pidilizumab. OUTLINE: Patients receive pidilizumab intravenously (IV) over approximately 5 hours on day 1. Treatment repeats every 42 days for 3 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of treatment, patients are followed up at 30 days and then every 3 months for 2 years.