Cho YM, Furie R. The development of litifilimab (BIIB 059) for cutaneous and systemic lupus erythematosus.
Immunotherapy 2024;
16:15-20. [PMID:
37877249 DOI:
10.2217/imt-2023-0086]
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Abstract
This review describes the litifilimab (BIIB 059) development program to date for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), major producers of type I interferons (IFN-I), play a key role in SLE pathogenesis. Litifilimab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, binds to BDCA2, a protein uniquely expressed on pDCs. The consequence of BDCA2 ligation is the inhibition of IFN-I as well as IFN-III, cytokine and chemokine production. Phase I and II LILAC trial parts A and B achieved primary end points in SLE and CLE patients, confirming the importance of pDCs and IFN-I in SLE and CLE. Litifilimab is currently being evaluated in phase III trials in both SLE and CLE.
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