Emerging antibody-drug conjugates for treating lymphoid malignancies

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) are monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) attached to biologically active drugs through specialized chemical linkers. They deliver and release cytotoxic agents at the tumor site, reducing the likelihood of systemic exposure and therefore toxicity. These agents should improve the potency of chemotherapy by increasing the accumulation of cytotoxic the drug within or near the neoplastic cells with reduced systemic effects.

Areas covered: A literature review was conducted of the MEDLINE database PubMed for articles in English examining Mabs, B-cell receptor pathway inhibitors and immunomodulating drugs. Publications from 2000 through April 2017 were scrutinized. Conference proceedings from the previous five years of the American Society of Hematology, European Hematology Association, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meetings were searched manually. Additional relevant publications were obtained by reviewing the references from the chosen articles.

Expert opinion: Newer ADCs show promise as treatment for several hematologic malignancies, especially lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and leukemia. However, definitive data from ongoing and future clinical trials will aid in better defining the status of these agents in the treatment of these diseases.

KEYWORDS:

• ADCT-301
• AGS67E
• antibody-drug conjugate
• Anti-FcrL5
• A-dmDT390-bisFv
• brentuximab vedotin
• combotox
• DCDTS4501A
• DCDT2980S
• denileukin diftitox
• denintuzumab mafodotin
• indatuximab ravtansine
• inotuzumab ozogamicin
• indatuximab ravtansine
• leukemia
• LMB-2
• lorvotuzumab mertansine
• lymphoma
• milotuzumab-dox
• moxetumomab pasudotox
• multiple myeloma
• pinatuzumab vedotin
• polatuzumab vedotin
• resimmune
• SAR-3419

Acknowledgment

We thank Edward Lowczowski from the Medical University of Lodz for editorial assistance. This work was supported in part by the grant from the NCN (2016/23/B/NZ5/02529) and Medical University of Lodz (No. 503/1-093-01/503-11-004), Poland. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this article.