Emerging immunotherapeutic strategies for cutaneous lupus erythematosus: an overview of recent phase 2 and 3 clinical trials

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is an autoimmune disease that is clinically heterogenous and may occur with or without the presence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). While existing on a spectrum, CLE and SLE present differences in their underlying pathogenesis and therapeutic responses. No new therapies have been approved in recent decades by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for CLE, although frequently refractory to conventional therapies. There is an unmet need to develop effective drugs for CLE as it significantly impacts patients’ quality of life and may leave irreversible disfiguring damage.

Areas covered

This review provides an update on the latest phase 2 and 3 clinical trials performed in CLE or SLE using skin-specific outcome measures. Emergent therapies are presented alongside their mechanism of action as recent translational studies have permitted identification of critical targets among immune cells and/or pathways involved in CLE.

Expert opinion

While the recent literature has few trials for CLE, drugs targeting type I interferon, its downstream signaling and plasmacytoid dendritic cells have shown promising results. Further research is required to develop long-awaited effective therapies, and this review highlights the importance of implementing trials dedicated to CLE to fill the current gap in CLE therapeutics.

KEYWORDS:

• Anifrolumab
• cutaneous lupus erythematosus
• daxdilimab
• Iberdomide
• interferon type I
• JAK inhibitors
• litifilimab
• plasmacytoid dendritic cells

Declaration of interest

V P Werth has grants from Celgene, Janssen, Pfizer, Biogen, Gilead, Corbus Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, AstraZeneca, Viela, Syntimmune, Amgen, Regeneron, Argenx, CSL Behring, Ventus, q32 Bio, BMS, Horizon and has consulted for Celgene, Genentech, Janssen, Lilly, Pfizer, Biogen, BMS, Gilead, Amgen, Medscape, Nektar, Incyte, EMD Sorona, CSL Behring, Principia, Crisalis, Viela Bio, Argenx, Kwoya Kirin, Regeneron, Principia, AstraZeneca, AbbVie, Octapharma, GSK, Astra-Zeneca, Cugene, UCB, Corcept, Beacon Bioscience, Rome Pharmaceuticals, Horizon, Gilead, Merck, Kezar, Sanofi, Bayer, Akari, Calyx, Cabaletta Bio. The University of Pennsylvania owns the copyright for the CLASI.

The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was funded by the National Institutes of Health-USA (NIH-USA) grants R01AR071653 (to V P Werth), and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review BX005921-01 (Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development and Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development, to V P Werth).