The Agony of Choice-Where to Place the Wave of BCMA-Targeted Therapies in the Multiple Myeloma Treatment Puzzle in 2022 and Beyond

Cancers (Basel). 2021 Sep 19;13(18):4701. doi: 10.3390/cancers13184701.

Abstract

Since the introduction of first-generation proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory agents, the multiple myeloma (MM) treatment landscape has undergone a remarkable development. Most recently, immunotherapeutic strategies targeting the B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) entered the clinical stage providing access to highly anticipated novel treatment strategies. At present, numerous different approaches investigate BCMA as an effective multi-modal target. Currently, BCMA-directed antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific and trispecific antibodies, autologous and allogeneic CAR-T cell as well as CAR-NK cell constructs are either approved or in different stages of clinical and preclinical development for the treatment of MM. This armamentarium of treatment choices raises several challenges for clinical decision making, particularly in the absence of head-to-head comparisons. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of BCMA-targeting therapeutics, deliver latest updates on clinical trial data, and focus on potential patient selection criteria for different BCMA-targeting immunotherapeutic strategies.

Keywords: BCMA; BiTEs®; CAR-T; antibody-drug conjugates (ADC); bispecific antibodies; multiple myeloma; treatment selection.

Publication types

  • Review