title: Blinatumomab: a historical perspective.
abstract: For decades, chemotherapy has been the backbone for the treatment of patients with B cell malignancies. Depending on the individual disease, monoclonal antibodies, irradiation and/or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are added. However, the current standard of care--particularly for patients with relapsed disease--is often not sufficient to achieve durable remissions. A highly promising new drug candidate in late-stage clinical development for treatment of B cell malignancies is blinatumomab (MT103 or AMG 103). This bispecific antibody construct has dual specificity for CD19 and CD3 and belongs to the class of bispecific T cell engager (BiTE®) antibodies, which can potentially engage all cytotoxic T cells of a patient for redirected lysis of tumor cells. Here, we review how blinatumomab has so far been pre-clinically and clinically developed for the treatment of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
authors.affiliation: Amgen Research-Munich GmbH, Staffelseestr. 2, 81477 Munich, Germany. dirk.nagorsen@amgen.com
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nagorsen
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kufer
authors.forename: Patrick A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Baeuerle
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bargou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018033:Antibodies, Bispecific / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000188:drug therapy; D020522:Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell / Q000188:drug therapy; D015452:Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D018033:Antibodies, Bispecific; C510808:blinatumomab