Blinatumomab — nowy lek u chorych na nawrotową/ /oporną ostrą białaczkę limfoblastyczną

The long term prognosis of adult patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) acute lymphoblastic leu­kemia (ALL) is poor. There is no standard treatment for relapsed ALL and reinduction therapy should only be a “bridge treatment” in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo- -HSCT). In spite of obtaining an initial response to treatment, the duration of response using standard chemotherapy is usually short and the next relapses are chemoresistant. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies as a targeted therapy represents a novel approach for treating patients with R/R ALL. The objective of immunotherapy is to improve the relapse-free and overall survival without increasing the toxicity of treatment. In this review, the mechanism of action and clini­cal efficacy of the novel bispecific antibody blinatumomab is discussed. The European Medicines Agency approved blinatumomab in 2015 for treating adult patients with Philadelphia chromosome negative R/R B-ALL.