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Review
. 2025 May;104(5):2593-2603.
doi: 10.1007/s00277-025-06344-8. Epub 2025 Apr 11.

Alemtuzumab for haematological malignancies

Ning An  1 , Kangqi Bian  2 , Chunrui Li  3   4
Affiliations
Review

Alemtuzumab for haematological malignancies

Ning An et al. Ann Hematol. 2025 May.

Abstract

Alemtuzumab is a humanized recombinant monoclonal antibody that specifically targets the CD52 antigen, which is expressed on both malignant and normal T and B lymphocytes. By binding to CD52, alemtuzumab exerts potent antitumor and immunosuppressive effects. Initially approved by the FDA in 2001 for the treatment of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), alemtuzumab's therapeutic applications have expanded to various hematologic malignancies, including lymphoma, acute leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), aplastic anemia (AA), graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy. This review evaluates the efficacy and safety of alemtuzumab in these conditions, aiming to synthesize current evidence and provide guidance for clinical practice to optimize the use of alemtuzumab in the treatment of these diseases.

Keywords: Alemtuzumab; Efficacy; Graft-versus-host disease; Hematologic malignancies; Safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Proposed mechanism of action of alemtuzumab. Alemtuzumab targets B and T lymphocytes by one of three mechanisms and lymphocyte repopulation occurs through either production of new T and B lymphocytes or through homeostatic repopulation of surviving lymphocytes ADCC, antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity; CDC, complement-dependent cytotoxicity
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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