title: CD52 is not a promising immunotherapy target for most patients with multiple myeloma.
abstract: The aim of our study was to evaluate CD52 as a target molecule for antibody therapy for multiple myeloma. Twenty consecutive bone marrow samples from myeloma patients were studied by flow cytometry using antibodies against CD45, CD38, CD138, CD3, CD19, and CD52. Most myeloma cells did not express CD52; CD52 expression was found only in a small subpopulation of plasma cells with a CD45+CD38++ phenotype. In contrast, the major fraction of myeloma cells (CD45-CD38++) was CD52-. Treatment of myeloma patients with anti-CD52 antibodies with the aim to reduce the number of myeloma cells in the CD45+CD38++ subfraction, which possibly contains a proliferative progenitor cell pool, would be at best a highly experimental approach. We conclude that CD52 is not a promising target for antibody-based therapies for most patients with multiple myeloma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Berlin, Germany. joerg.westermann@charite.de
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Westermann
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maschmeyer
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Lessen
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dörken
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pezzutto
mesh_terms: D000074323:Alemtuzumab; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000074301:CD52 Antigen; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006023:Glycoproteins; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D015703:Antigens, CD; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D000074301:CD52 Antigen; C000613862:CD52 protein, human; D006023:Glycoproteins; D000074323:Alemtuzumab