Novel antibody-based therapies for hematologic diseases

Antibody-based therapies are increasingly used as targeted therapy that combine strong on-target effects with relatively low side effects by sparing antigen-negative tissue. Focusing on the idea of target-mediated therapy, antibodies alone but also antibodies conjugated to an effector such as antibody–drug conjugates, fusion proteins, bispecific antibodies, or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-) T cells will be discussed. Side effects, however, can sometimes be substantial and sometimes affect unexpected organs. We aim to discuss newly approved therapeutic antibodies, to highlight clinical efficacy, and to create a general understanding of the mechanisms of action. Given the large number of new antibody-based therapies, it is not possible to address every newly approved substance in detail and only the most important clinical studies are cited. We assess side effects of antibody therapies and discuss their clinical management. This article highlights a rapidly increasing number of therapeutic antibodies with the promise of a substantial improvement of standard of care treatment. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of approved therapy options and new therapy concepts. A general understanding of the mechanisms of action should be conveyed for the substance groups based on a selection of clinically relevant therapeutic agents. General side effects are then derived from the general and specific active principles and their clinical management is discussed. With this knowledge, side effects of substances that will be approved in the future as well as useful combinations of the rapidly increasing number of therapeutic antibodies can be anticipated. © 2021, Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.