# Targeted therapy with the T-cell-engaging antibody blinatumomab of chemotherapy-refractory minimal residual disease in B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients results in high response rate and prolonged leukemia-free survival

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-blinatumomab-all-leukemia-j-clin-oncol-2011/  
OnCo record `paper-blinatumomab-all-leukemia-j-clin-oncol-2011` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Phase 2 or 3 results paper on Blinatumomab in Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, in Journal of Clinical Oncology (2011), one of the most cited Europe PMC records with Blinatumomab in its title.

## Summary

Purpose: Blinatumomab, a bispecific single-chain antibody targeting the CD19 antigen, is a member of a novel class of antibodies that redirect T cells for selective lysis of tumor cells. In acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), persistence or relapse of minimal residual disease (MRD) after chemotherapy indicates resistance to chemotherapy and results in hematologic relapse. A phase II clinical study was conducted to determine the efficacy of blinatumomab in MRD-positive B-lineage ALL.

Patients and methods: Patients with MRD persistence or relapse after induction and consolidation therapy were included. MRD was assessed by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for either rearrangements of immunoglobulin or T-cell receptor genes, or specific genetic aberrations. Blinatumomab was administered as a 4-week continuous intravenous infusion at a dose of 15 μg/m2/24 hours.

Results: Twenty-one patients were treated, of whom 16 patients became MRD negative. One patient was not evaluable due to a grade 3 adverse event leading to treatment discontinuation. Among the 16 responders, 12 patients had been molecularly refractory to previous chemotherapy. Probability for relapse-free survival is 78% at a median follow-up of 405 days. The most frequent grade 3 and 4 adverse event was lymphopenia, which was completely reversible like most other adverse events.

Conclusion: Blinatumomab is an efficacious and well-tolerated treatment in patients with MRD-positive B-lineage ALL after intensive chemotherapy. T cells engaged by blinatumomab seem capable of eradicating chemotherapy-resistant tumor cells that otherwise cause clinical relapse.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 21576633 (DOI 10.1200/jco.2010.32.7270). Its title names Blinatumomab and its text names Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia; PubMed types it as a clinical trial report (Clinical Trial, Phase II, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Multicenter Study). It was matched automatically to the idea "Menin inhibitors for infant KMT2A-rearranged ALL" and no figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Journal of Clinical Oncology
- Year: 2011
- DOI: 10.1200/jco.2010.32.7270
- Authors: Topp MS, Kufer P, Gökbuget N, et al.
- What it means: One of the most cited trial reports Europe PMC returns for Blinatumomab in Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, so it is a natural first reading for anyone weighing the idea it is linked from. The record was linked automatically by title and abstract; read the abstract above and the paper itself before relying on any figure.
- Caveats: Matched by Blinatumomab in the title and Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in the title or abstract of the Europe PMC record; the summary reproduces the record's abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.; Chosen as a phase 2 or 3 report by the record's publication type or its own wording, not by reading the paper.

## Sources

- J Clin Oncol 2011: https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2010.32.7270
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21576633/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/21576633

## Connected records

- journals: [Journal of Clinical Oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/jco/)
- ideas: [Menin inhibitors for infant KMT2A-rearranged ALL](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-menin-infant-all/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/paper-blinatumomab-all-leukemia-j-clin-oncol-2011.json