SUMMARY

As the surface antigen CD38 is highly expressed on malignant plasma cells, it provides an interesting therapeutic target for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). At present, three anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) have been studied in MM: daratumumab, isatuximab and MOR202. All three anti-CD38 mAb show complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibodydependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) activities. Moreover, immunomodulatory effects of daratumumab and isatuximab have been demonstrated. At present, daratumumab has been the most extensively studied anti-CD38 mAb in clinical trials. Following the excellent results of phase III clinical trials in relapsed/refractory MM (RRMM), daratumumab has recently also been studied in phase III clinical trials in newly diagnosed patients. The effects of isatuximab and MOR202 have been studied in phase III and phase I clinical trials, respectively, in patients with RRMM.

(BELG J HEMATOL 2019;10(8):326–31)