Tafasitamab Monoclonal antibody targeting CD19 Treatment of B-cell malignancies

CD19 is a cell surface transmembrane protein and is a positive regulator of B-cell receptor signaling. The expression of the CD19 receptor is specific to the B-cell lineage of lymphocytes and is expressed on the majority of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells. Tafasitamab (MOR-208, XmAb-5574) is a humanized anti-CD19 monoclonal antibody with a Fc variant which is engi-neered to increase its affinity to Fc gamma R receptors. Increased Fc gamma R affinity to effector cells such as natural killer cells leads to significantly enhanced antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cell-mediated phagocytosis. This review will discuss the preclinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, clinical studies and future directions with tafasitamab.