Dr. Cho on the Knowledge Deficit in Multiple Myeloma

Hearn Jay Cho, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, Hematology/Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses the knowledge deficit in multiple myeloma.

The biggest deficit is in our understanding of a drug’s mechanism of action, explains Cho. For example, elotuzumab (Empliciti) and daratumumab (Darzalex) were initially thought to be targeting antibodies. It is now known that these agents have activities beyond their ability to code the tumor cell.

These agents have a big impact on immunity, particularly antitumor immunity; the molecules that these agents target—CD38 and SLAMF7—have immunologic functions. However, their precise mechanism of action still needs to be understood in order to know what the contribution of the targeting antibody function is. Understanding the mechanisms of these agents can be used to inform how to logically combine them. That's the knowledge deficit that needs to be filled right now, states Cho.