Can bispecific antibodies change the paradigm and goals of therapy for patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphomas?

Abstract

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of hematological malignancies, the vast majority of which are B-cell tumors. Standard immunochemotherapy with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies is effective as the first-line therapy in treating these lymphoproliferative diseases. However, many patients develop a relapse or refractory disease. Recent therapeutic advances with new targeted agents and cell-based therapies have improved treatment outcomes. However, most of the new strategies cannot cure the disease or achieve long-term remissions, leaving a part of patients with an unmet need for effective and well-tolerated treatment options. One of the most promising therapeutic options is bispecific antibodies, which are expected to provide an unprecedentedly high level of deep responses with an improved safety profile. The available data open up prospects for extrapolating these results to the overall survival of patients.

Keywords

• non-hodgkin lymphomas
• diffuse b-cell large cell lymphoma
• follicular lymphoma
• bispecific antibodies
• immunotherapy