Preclinical in vitro and in vivo evidence for CD74-targeting as effective treatment strategy for cutaneous T cell lymphomas.

Background: Prognosis and quality of life of advanced cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) patients, in particular those with Sézary syndrome (SS) and advanced-stage mycosis fungoides (MF), are poor. Monoclonal antibodies or antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have been implemented into CTCL therapy algorithms, but the spectrum of antibody-targetable cell-surface antigens on T cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (T-NHL) is limited.

Objectives: To evaluate expression of the MHC-II chaperone CD74 across common subtypes of CTCL by various methods, and to explore the efficacy of CD74-targeting of CTCL cells by anti-CD74 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) in vitro and in vivo.