Monoclonal Antibody Therapies in Multiple Myeloma: A Challenge to Develop Novel Targets

The treatment options in multiple myeloma (MM) has changed dramatically over the past decade with the development of novel agents such as proteasome inhibitors (PIs); bortezomib and immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs); thalidomide, and lenalidomide which revealed high efficacy and improvement of overall survival (OS) in MM patients. However, despite these progresses, most patients relapse and become eventually refractory to these therapies. Thus, the development of novel, targeted immunotherapies has been pursued aggressively. Recently, next-generation PIs; carfilzomib and ixazomib, IMiD; pomalidomide, histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDADi); panobinostat and monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs); and elotuzumab and daratumumab have emerged, and especially, combination of mAbs plus novel agents has led to dramatic improvements in the outcome of MM patients. The field of immune therapies has been accelerating in the treatment of hematological malignancies and has also taken center stage in MM. This review focuses on an overview of current status of novel MoAb therapy including bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) antibody (BsAb), antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, in relapsed or refractory MM (RRMM). Lastly, investigational novel MoAb-based therapy to overcome immunotherapy resistance in MM is shown.