Mechanism of action of daratumumab

Niels van de Donk, MD, PhD, from the University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands discusses the use and mechanism of action of daratumumab. Daratumumab is an anti-CD38 targeting antibody and has shown high activity in end stage patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Dr van de Donk further explains that it has been shown to eliminate CD38 positive immune suppressor cells. This means that a sub-population of regulatory T-cells, which are CD38 positive, are killed during daratumumab therapy. According to Dr van de Donk, CD38 high regulatory T-cells are very immunosuppressive and the elimination of these kinds of cells by daratumumab, is thought to be important as it allows the immune system to recover.
Recorded at the Myeloma 2016 meeting held in Boston, MA.