SPECIAL ARTICLE  MULTIPLE MYELOMA IN 2020: STATE OF THE ART (PART II) Free access

Panminerva Medica 2021 March;63(1):28-36

DOI: 10.23736/S0031-0808.20.04121-X

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

BCMA-targeting approaches for treatment of multiple myeloma

Yunxin CHEN ^{1, 2} ✉, Chandramouli NAGARAJAN ^{1, 2}, Melinda S. TAN ¹, Giovanni MARTINELLI ³, Claudio CERCHIONE ³

¹ Department of Hematology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore; ² SingHealth Duke NUS Blood Cancer Center, Singapore, Singapore; ³ Unit of Hematology, IRCCS Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST), Meldola, Forlì-Cesena, Italy

Recent advances in treatment modalities have led to improved survival in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). However, despite these, MM remains an incurable disease. Many MM patients relapse through and become refractory to current treatment strategies or are intolerant due to toxicities arising from therapy. As such, novel strategies addressing new targets are crucial in improving care for MM patients. BCMA has emerged as a rationale therapeutic target for treatment of MM as it is preferentially expressed in mature B-lymphocytes and plasma cells with the overexpression and activation of BCMA via its ligands associated with the disease progression in multiple myeloma. Given the high expression of BCMA in malignant Plasma cells compared to those from normal healthy volunteers, targeting BCMA should reduce risks of on-target off-tumor toxicities. The main BCMA-targeting approaches currently used for treatment of MM include: 1) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy; 2) bi- and multi- specific antibodies; and 3) monoclonal antibodies and their drug conjugates. This review will outline these therapeutic agents and present their emerging clinical data.

KEY WORDS: Multiple myeloma; Consolidation chemotherapy; Therapy