Authors
Ester Valero-Hernandez, Jai Mathur, David Baker, Iris Y H Liu, Sarah L Morgan, Emma C Tallantyre, Klaus Schmierer, Angray S Kang
Published in
Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England). Pages 13524585261495351. Oct 17, 2026. Epub Oct 17, 2026.
Abstract
Natalizumab is a high-efficacy therapy drug for multiple sclerosis that inhibits lymphocyte migration into the central nervous system, increasing lymphocyte counts in the peripheral blood. Anti-drug antibody responses may limit drug efficacy, but current guidance recommends anti-drug antibody testing only after evidence of 'reduced efficacy'.
To assess the lack of relative lymphocytosis as a biomarker of anti-drug antibody responses.
Lymphocyte counts and immunogenicity data from the pivotal AFFIRM clinical trial (n = 627 natalizumab vs n = 315 placebo) and real-world data from the Cardiff MS register (n = 185) were analysed to assess the relationship between lymphocyte counts, anti-drug antibody responses, drug levels and disease activity.
Natalizumab treatment induced an absolute change in lymphocyte counts by week 12 (1.40 ± 0.92 vs -0.05 ± 0.62 × 109 cells/L in natalizumab vs placebo; p < 0.0001) that was absent in the persistent anti-drug antibody group (-0.12 ± 0.60 × 109 cells/L). Increases in lymphocyte counts by ⩾ 0.8 × 109 cells/L from the baseline discriminated individuals without anti-drug antibody responses with high sensitivity (≥ 84%) and specificity (≥ 91%).
The absence of relative lymphocytosis is associated with anti-drug antibody responses and may provide a simple biomarker to prompt anti-drug antibody testing before disease breakthrough occurs.
PMID:
42891510
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Oct 2026.
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