Targeting CD38 with Daratumumab Monotherapy in Multiple Myeloma
NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
Authors: Lokhorst, H. M.; Plesner, T.; Laubach, J. P.; Nahi, H.; Gimsing, P.; Hansson, M.; Minnema, M. C.; Lassen, U.; Krejcik, J.; Palumbo, A.; van de Donk, N. W. C. J.; Ahmadi, T.; Khan, I.; Uhlar, C. M.; Wang, J.; Sasser, A. K.; Losic, N.; Lisby, S.; Basse, L.; Brun, N.; Richardson, P. G.
Abstract
BACKGROUND Multiple myeloma cells uniformly overexpress CD38. We studied daratumumab, a CD38-targeting, human IgG1 kappa monoclonal antibody, in a phase 1-2 trial involving patients with relapsed myeloma or relapsed myeloma that was refractory to two or more prior lines of therapy. METHODS In part 1, the dose-escalation phase, we administered daratumumab at doses of 0.005 to 24 mg per kilogram of body weight. In part 2, the dose-expansion phase, 30 patients received 8 mg per kilogram of daratumumab and 42 received 16 mg per kilogram, administered once weekly (8 doses), twice monthly (8 doses), and monthly for up to 24 months. End points included safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics. RESULTS No maximum tolerated dose was identified in part 1. In part 2, the median time since diagnosis was 5.7 years. Patients had received a median of four prior treatments; 79% of the patients had disease that was refractory to the last therapy received (64% had disease refractory to proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs and 64% had disease refractory to bortezomib and lenalidomide), and 76% had received autologous stem-cell transplants. Infusion-related reactions in part 2 were mild (71% of patients had an event of any grade, and 1% had an event of grade 3), with no dose-dependent adverse events. The most common adverse events of grade 3 or 4 (in >= 5% of patients) were pneumonia and thrombocytopenia. The overall response rate was 36% in the cohort that received 16 mg per kilogram (15 patients had a partial response or better, including 2 with a complete response and 2 with a very good partial response) and 10% in the cohort that received 8 mg per kilogram (3 had a partial response). In the cohort that received 16 mg per kilogram, the median progression-free survival was 5.6 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.2 to 8.1), and 65% (95% CI, 28 to 86) of the patients who had a response did not have progression at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS Daratumumab monotherapy had a favorable safety profile and encouraging efficacy in patients with heavily pretreated and refractory myeloma. (Funded by Janssen Research and Development and Genmab; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00574288.)
Immunoglobulin G Is Present in a Wide Variety of Soft Tissue Tumors and Correlates Well With Proliferation Markers and Tumor Grades
CANCER
Authors: Chen, Zhengshan; Huang, Xinrui; Ye, Juxiang; Pan, Peng; Cao, Qi; Yang, Baokai; Li, Zhuo; Su, Meng; Huang, Chen; Gu, Jiang
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The traditional view that immunoglobulin (Ig) is produced only by B lymphocytes has been challenged, because it has been demonstrated that Ig genes and proteins are expressed in epithelial cancer cells. However, whether Ig expression in nonlymphoid cells is limited to epithelial cells is unclear. Because sarcomas differ distinctly from carcinomas in their biologic and clinical features, the authors investigated the question of nonlymphoid IgG expression in soft tissue lesions. METHODS: Immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to demonstrate IgG expression in 80 soft tissue lesions. The correlation between Ig expression and proliferation markers (proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA], Ki-67, and cyclin D1) in sarcomas was investigated by immunohistochemical and statistical analyses. RESULTS: Ig kappa was identified in 97.4% of sarcomas and in 31.7% of benign lesions by immunohistochemistry. The difference was statistically significant (P < .01). Messenger RNA from the IgG1 heavy-chain constant region was also detected by in situ hybridization. Variable-diversity-joining recombination sequences of both heavy and light chains were obtained by PCR and sequencing. Moreover, the labeling index of PCNA, Ki-67, and cyclin D1 was much higher in sarcomas with high Ig kappa expression than in sarcomas with low Ig kappa expression (P < .01 for PCNA and cyclin D1; P < .001 for Ki-67). There were more grade 3 sarcomas with high Ig kappa expression compared with grade 1 and 2 sarcomas (P < 05). CONCLUSIONS: IgG was identified in a wide variety of soft tissue tumors and correlated well with proliferation markers and tumor grades. IgG may be a useful marker for cell proliferation in sarcomas. Cancer 2010;116:1953-63. (C) 2010 American Cancer Society