Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO, Mylotarg®) consists of a humanized CD33-targeted antibody-drug conjugated to a calicheamicin derivative. Growing evidence of GO efficacy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), demonstrated by improved outcomes in CD33-positive AML patients across phase I to III clinical trials, led to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval on 1 September 2017 in CD33-positive AML patients aged 2 years and older. Discrepancies in GO recipients outcome have raised significant efforts to characterize biomarkers predictive of GO response and have refined the subset of patients that may strongly benefit from GO. Among them, CD33 expression levels, favorable cytogenetics (t(8;21), inv(16)/t(16;16), t(15;17)) and molecular alterations, such as NPM1, FLT3-internal tandem duplications and other signaling mutations, represent well-known candidates. Additionally, in depth analyses including minimal residual disease monitoring, stemness expression (LSC17 score), mutations or single nucleotide polymorphisms in GO pathway genes (CD33, ABCB1) and molecular-derived scores, such as the recently set up CD33_PGx6_Score, represent promising markers to enhance GO response prediction and improve patient management.
Keywords: CD33; FLT3; acute myeloid leukemia; biomarkers; gemtuzumab ozogamicin; therapy.