A review on bispecific antibody (blinatumomab) for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

Acute lymphoblastic Leukemia has currently about 6,550 new cases from which about 3,590 are male and about 2,960 are females. ALL occurs in fewer than half of 1% of all cancer in the US. There are multiple subtypes of ALL out of which there are two main types and only in some cases it can be cured. Treatment of different types are available for the acute lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Some treatments are in the ongoing trials and some are standard treatments that are currently used. Blinatumomab is a bispecific monoclonal antibody approved by the US, FDA for the treatment in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor of ALL on the basis of phase 3 clinical trials that shows the efficacy and some manageable toxic effects. It shows superior overall survival as compared to standard chemotherapy. The refractory or relapsed acute lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) patients, when treated with the allogeneic stem cell transplantation and cytotoxic chemotherapy have poor prognosis or the pitiful rate of survival approximately 5%. In this review, the clinical trial data of blinatumomab is analysed, an evaluation of its effectiveness and safety in comparison to the chemotherapy is provided, which can be used to unfold the full potential of this drug in the future.