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Background: HexaBody®-CD38 (GEN3014) is a hexamerization-enhanced human IgG1 that binds CD38 with high affinity. The E430G mutation in its Fc domain facilitates the natural process of antibody hexamer formation upon binding to the cell surface, resulting in increased binding of C1q and potentiated complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). Methods: Co-crystallization studies were performed to identify the binding interface of HexaBody-CD38 and CD38. HexaBody-CD38-induced CDC, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), trogocytosis, and apoptosis were assessed using flow cytometry assays using tumour cell lines, and MM patient samples (CDC). CD38 enzymatic activity was measured using fluorescence spectroscopy. Anti-tumour activity of HexaBody-CD38 was assessed in patient-derived xenograft mouse models in vivo. Findings: HexaBody-CD38 binds a unique epitope on CD38 and induced potent CDC in multiple myeloma (MM), acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) cells. Anti-tumour activity was confirmed in patient-derived xenograft models in vivo. Sensitivity to HexaBody-CD38 correlated with CD38 expression level and was inversely correlated with expression of complement regulatory proteins. Compared to daratumumab, HexaBody-CD38 showed enhanced CDC in cell lines with lower levels of CD38 expression, without increasing lysis of healthy leukocytes. More effective CDC was also confirmed in primary MM cells. Furthermore, HexaBody-CD38 efficiently induced ADCC, ADCP, trogocytosis, and apoptosis after Fc-crosslinking. Moreover, HexaBody-CD38 strongly inhibited CD38 cyclase activity, which is hypothesized to relieve immune suppression in the tumour microenvironment. Interpretation: Based on these preclinical studies, a clinical trial was initiated to assess the clinical safety of HexaBody-CD38 in patients with MM. Funding: Genmab.

The CD38-targeting antibody daratumumab has marked activity in multiple myeloma (MM). Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role during daratumumab therapy by mediating antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity via their FcγRIII receptor (CD16), but they are also rapidly decreased following initiation of daratumumab treatment. We characterized the NK cell phenotype at baseline and during daratumumab monotherapy by flow cytometry and cytometry by time of flight to assess its impact on response and development of resistance (DARA-ATRA study; NCT02751255). At baseline, nonresponding patients had a significantly lower proportion of CD16 +and granzyme B +NK cells, and higher frequency of TIM-3 +and HLA-DR +NK cells, consistent with a more activated/exhausted phenotype. These NK cell characteristics were also predictive of inferior progression-free survival and overall survival. Upon initiation of daratumumab treatment, NK cells were rapidly depleted. Persisting NK cells exhibited an activated and exhausted phenotype with reduced expression of CD16 and granzyme B, and increased expression of TIM-3 and HLA-DR. We observed that addition of healthy donor-derived purified NK cells to BM samples from patients with either primary or acquired daratumumab-resistance improved daratumumab-mediated MM cell killing. In conclusion, NK cell dysfunction plays a role in primary and acquired daratumumab resistance. This study supports the clinical evaluation of daratumumab combined with adoptive transfer of NK cells.

T-cell-engaging bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) simultaneously bind to antigens on tumour cells and CD3 subunits on T cells. This simultaneous binding results in the recruitment of T cells to the tumour, followed by T-cell activation and degranulation, and tumour cell elimination. T-cell-engaging BsAbs have shown substantial activity in several haematological malignancies by targeting CD19 in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, CD20 in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and BCMA and GPRC5D in multiple myeloma. Progress with solid tumours has been slower, in part due to the paucity of therapeutic targets with a tumour-specific expression profile, which is needed to limit on-target off-tumour side-effects. Nevertheless, BsAb-mediated recognition of a peptide fragment of gp100 presented by HLA-A2:01 molecules has shown marked activity in patients with unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma. Cytokine release syndrome is the most frequent toxicity associated with BsAb treatment and is caused by activated T cells secreting proinflammatory cytokines. Understanding of resistance mechanisms has resulted in the development of new T cell-redirecting formats and novel combination strategies, which are expected to further improve depth and duration of response.

PURPOSE To address the role of consolidation treatment for newly diagnosed, transplant eligible patients with multiple myeloma in a controlled clinical trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS The EMN02/HOVON95 trial compared consolidation treatment with two cycles of bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRD) or no consolidation after induction and intensification therapy, followed by continuous lenalidomide maintenance. Primary study end point was progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS Eight hundred seventy-eight eligible patients were randomly assigned to receive VRD consolidation (451 patients) or no consolidation (427 patients). At a median follow-up of 74.8 months, median PFS with adjustment for pretreatment was prolonged in patients randomly assigned to VRD consolidation (59.3 v 42.9 months, hazard ratio [HR] = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.96; P = .016). The PFS benefit was observed across most predefined subgroups, including revised International Staging System (ISS) stage, cytogenetics, and prior treatment. Revised ISS3 stage (HR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.41 to 2.86) and ampl1q (HR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.37 to 2.04) were significant adverse prognostic factors. The median duration of maintenance was 33 months (interquartile range 13-86 months). Response complete response (CR) after consolidation versus no consolidation before start of maintenance was 34% versus 18%, respectively (P < .001). Response >= CR on protocol including maintenance was 59% with consolidation and 46% without (P < .001). Minimal residual disease analysis by flow cytometry in a subgroup of 226 patients with CR or stringent complete response or very good partial response before start of maintenance demonstrated a 74% minimal residual disease-negativity rate in VRD-treated patients. Toxicity from VRD was acceptable and manageable. CONCLUSION Consolidation treatment with VRD followed by lenalidomide maintenance improves PFS and depth of response in newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma as compared to maintenance alone. (C) 2021 by American Society of Clinical Oncology

Additional file 1. Supplementary information: search strategies and overview of included articles.

Purpose: Multiple myeloma (MM) patients with disease refractory to all available drugs have a poor outcome, indicating the need for new agents with novel mechanisms of action. Experimental Design: We evaluated the anti-MM activity of the fully human BCMA×CD3 bispecific antibody JNJ-7957 in cell lines and bone marrow (BM) samples. The impact of several tumor- and host-related factors on sensitivity to JNJ-7957 therapy was also evaluated. Results: We show that JNJ-7957 has potent activity against 4 MM cell lines, against tumor cells in 48 of 49 BM samples obtained from MM patients, and in 5 of 6 BM samples obtained from primary plasma cell leukemia patients. JNJ-7957 activity was significantly enhanced in patients with prior daratumumab treatment, which was partially due to enhanced killing capacity of daratumumab-exposed effector cells. BCMA expression did not affect activity of JNJ-7957. High T-cell frequencies and high effector:target ratios were associated with improved JNJ-7957–mediated lysis of MM cells. The PD-1/PD-L1 axis had a modest negative impact on JNJ-7957 activity against tumor cells from daratumumab-naïve MM patients. Soluble BCMA impaired the ability of JNJ-7957 to kill MM cells, although higher concentrations were able to overcome this negative effect. Conclusions: JNJ-7957 effectively kills MM cells ex vivo, including those from heavily pretreated MM patients, whereby several components of the immunosuppressive BM microenvironment had only modest effects on its killing capacity. Our findings support the ongoing trial with JNJ-7957 as single agent and provide the preclinical rationale for evaluating JNJ-7957 in combination with daratumumab in MM.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells (CAR-T) have dramatically changed the treatment landscape of B-cell malignancies, providing a potential cure for relapsed/refractory patients. Long-term responses in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and non Hodgkin lymphomas have encouraged further development in myeloma. In particular, B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-targeted CAR-T have established very promising results in heavily pre-treated patients. Moreover, CAR-T targeting other antigens (i.e., SLAMF7 and CD44v6) are currently under investigation. However, none of these current autologous therapies have been approved, and despite high overall response rates across studies, main issues such as long-term outcome, toxicities, treatment resistance, and management of complications limit as yet their widespread use. Here, we critically review the most important pre-clinical and clinical findings, recent advances in CAR-T against myeloma, as well as discoveries in the biology of a still incurable disease, that, all together, will further improve safety and efficacy in relapsed/refractory patients, urgently in need of novel treatment options.

The European Myeloma Network provides recommendations for the management of the most common complications of multiple myeloma. Whole body low-dose computed tomography is more sensitive than conventional radiography in depicting osteolytic disease and thus we recommend it as the novel standard for the detection of lytic lesions in myeloma (grade 1A). Myeloma patients with adequate renal function and bone disease at diagnosis should be treated with zoledronic acid or pamidronate (grade 1A). Symptomatic patients without lytic lesions on conventional radiography can be treated with zoledronic acid (grade 1B), but its advantage is not clear for patients with no bone involvement on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. In asymptomatic myeloma, bisphosphonates are not recommended (grade 1A). Zoledronic acid should be given continuously, but it is not clear if patients who achieve at least a very good partial response benefit from its continuous use (grade 1B). Treatment with erythropoietic-stimulating agents may be initiated in patients with persistent symptomatic anemia (hemoglobin

Current guidelines for smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) recommend active monitoring until the onset of multiple myeloma (MM) before initiating treatment or enrollment in a clinical trial. Earlier intervention may delay progression to MM. In CENTAURUS, 123 patients with intermediate-risk or high-risk SMM were randomly assigned to daratumumab 16 mg/kg intravenously on extended intense (intense), extended intermediate (intermediate), or short dosing schedules. At the prespecified primary analysis (15.8-month median follow-up), the complete response (CR) rates (co-primary endpoint) were 2.4%, 4.9%, and 0% for intense, intermediate, and short dosing, respectively; the co-primary endpoint of CR rate >15% was not met. Progressive disease (PD)/death rates (number of patients who progressed or died divided by total duration of progression-free survival [PFS] in patient-years; co-primary endpoint) for intense, intermediate, and short dosing were 0.055 (80% confidence interval [CI], 0.014–0.096), 0.102 (80% CI, 0.044–0.160), and 0.206 (80% CI, 0.118–0.295), respectively, translating to a median PFS ≥24 months in all arms (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0001 for all arms). Twenty-four–month PFS rates were 89.9% (90% CI, 78.5–95.4%), 82.0% (90% CI, 69.0–89.9%), and 75.3% (90% CI, 61.1–85.0%) for intense, intermediate, and short dosing, respectively. Pharmacokinetic analyses indicated that intense dosing maintained target-saturating trough concentrations in most patients throughout weekly, every-2-week, and every-4-week dosing periods. No new safety signals were observed. These data provide the basis for an ongoing phase 3 study of daratumumab in SMM.

The diagnosis of multiple myeloma can be challenging, even for experienced physicians, and requires close collaboration between numerous disciplines (orthopedics, radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, hematology and oncology) before the final diagnosis of myeloma is made. The definition of multiple myeloma is based on the presence of clinical, biochemical, histopathological, and radiological markers of disease. Specific tests are needed both at presentation and during follow-up in order to reach the correct diagnosis and characterize the disease precisely. These tests can also serve prognostic purposes and are useful for follow-up of myeloma patients. Molecular analyses remain pivotal for defining high-risk myeloma and are used in updated patient stratifications, while minimal residual disease assessment via flow cytometry, molecular techniques and radiological approaches provides additional prognostic information on patients' long-term outcome. This pivotal information will guide our future treatment decisions in forthcoming clinical trials. The European Myeloma Network group updated their guidelines on different diagnostic recommendations, which should be of value to enable appropriate use of the recommendations both at diagnosis and during follow-up. ispartof: HAEMATOLOGICA vol:103 issue:11 pages:1772-1784 ispartof: location:Italy status: published

During the last few years, several new drugs have been introduced for treatment of patients with multiple myeloma, which have significantly improved the treatment outcome. All of these novel substances differ at least in part in their mode of action from similar drugs of the same drug class, or are representatives of new drug classes, and as such present with very specific side effect profiles. In this review, we summarize these adverse events, provide information on their prevention, and give practical guidance for monitoring of patients and for management of adverse events. ispartof: LEUKEMIA vol:32 issue:7 pages:1542-1560 ispartof: location:England status: published

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Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are a recent addition to multiple myeloma (MM) therapies and a number of mAbs directed at myeloma cell surface molecules are in development. Daratumumab is a CD38 mAb that has demonstrated substantial activity and good tolerability in four phase I, phase I/II and phase II studies as monotherapy, as well as in combination with current standard treatments in MM. The positive results obtained in the relapsed/refractory setting in patients with advanced-stage disease and in a small number of patients with newly diagnosed disease provide the rationale for the investigation of the agent in a number of ongoing phase III trials. mAbs are generally better tolerated than conventional chemotherapy; however, their use requires other special considerations. Such factors include those common to all mAbs, namely infusion-related reactions, but also factors that are observed with mAbs used in myeloma, such as interference with response assessment, or factors that are related to CD38 mAbs such as daratumumab, for instance blood typing interference. Our review provides an overview of the results from the daratumumab clinical trials conducted to date, as well as practical management considerations for the use of daratumumab based on our experience with the agent.