Targeting CD38 with monoclonal antibodies disrupts key survival pathways in paediatric Burkitt's lymphoma malignant B cells.

Objectives: Paediatric Burkitt's lymphoma (pBL) is the most common childhood non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma. Despite the encouraging survival rates for most children, treating cases with relapse/resistance to current therapies remains challenging. CD38 is a transmembrane protein highly expressed in pBL. This study investigates the effectiveness of CD38-targeting monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), daratumumab and isatuximab, in impairing crucial cellular processes and survival pathways in pBL malignant cells.

Methods: analyses of patient samples, combined with experiments using the Ramos cell line, were conducted to assess the impact of daratumumab and isatuximab on cellular proliferation, apoptosis and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway.

Results: Isatuximab was found to be more effective than daratumumab in disrupting B-cell receptor signalling, reducing cellular proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Additionally, isatuximab caused a significant impairment of the PI3K pathway and induced metabolic reprogramming in pBL cells. The study also revealed a correlation between CD38 and MYC expression levels in pBL patient samples, suggesting CD38 involvement in key oncogenic processes.

Conclusion: The study emphasises the therapeutic potential of CD38-targeting mAbs, particularly isatuximab, in pBL.