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Anti-CD38 antibody

Daratumumab

Darzalex · Dara

Anti-CD38 antibody · approved 2015 · 8 references

An anti-CD38 antibody that improves outcomes even in renal impairment — tumor lysis is its main kidney caveat.

Signature injury
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
Severity
Mild
Reversibility
Reversible
Onset
Tumor lysis (if any) early; renal benefit accrues over treatment as paraprotein/free light chains fall.

Signature kidney injury & incidence

Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

Direct nephrotoxicity is uncommon; tumor lysis can occur with high tumor burden. Crucially, daratumumab-based regimens IMPROVE outcomes (PFS, and OS in relapsed disease) in myeloma patients with renal insufficiency, including dialysis-dependent patients, and can drive renal recovery.

Source: Jiang et al., Hematology 2024 (meta-analysis: PFS/OS benefit in renal insufficiency)

Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI, Electrolyte Disturbance.

Renal toxicity profile

  1. Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKIPrimary
  2. Electrolyte DisturbanceSecondary

Onset timing & rechallenge

Variable / unpredictable — Any tumor lysis is early, while renal benefit accrues gradually across treatment as paraprotein/free light chains fall.

Mechanism of kidney injury

Rapid plasma-cell killing in high-burden disease can release uric acid/phosphate, causing tumor-lysis AKI; otherwise renal effects are hemodynamic (e.g., infusion-reaction-related). By rapidly controlling myeloma and lowering the nephrotoxic free light-chain load, daratumumab reduces cast-nephropathy/light-chain–mediated kidney injury — so its net renal effect in myeloma is frequently favorable.

Clinical presentation

Usually stable or improving renal function as myeloma responds (renal recovery, including dialysis independence in some cases); occasionally tumor-lysis labs with bulky disease. Infusion reactions are common (especially first infusion) but not directly nephrotoxic.

Management

Standard TLS management if it occurs; no renal dose adjustment required — usable across renal-function strata, including dialysis. The therapeutic goal is rapid disease control to recover renal function.

Risk factors

  • High tumor burden
  • Baseline cast nephropathy / high free light-chain burden
  • Volume depletion

Prevention

  • TLS risk assessment with hydration and urate-lowering therapy in high-burden disease
  • Continue/optimize myeloma therapy to protect and recover renal function
  • Infusion-reaction premedication

Renal dose adjustment

No renal dose adjustment; antibody clearance is target-mediated/reticuloendothelial, not renal. Standard IV or subcutaneous dosing is used regardless of CrCl, including in dialysis-dependent patients per trial and case data.

Dialyzability & ESKD dosing

Not dialyzed — a large IgG1 antibody not removed by HD/PD; full standard dosing in ESKD. Renal recovery off dialysis has been reported with daratumumab-based therapy.

Differential diagnosis

Distinguish a creatinine change from the underlying myeloma kidney disease (cast nephropathy, light-chain effects, hypercalcemia) and tumor lysis from a true drug effect (rare). Improving renal function usually reflects disease response, not toxicity.

Monitoring

  • Serum free light chains / paraprotein and renal function (track renal response)
  • TLS labs in high-burden disease at initiation
  • Infusion-reaction monitoring (first infusion highest risk)
  • Note daratumumab interference with indirect antiglobulin (Coombs) crossmatch — inform the blood bank

Key trials & series

  • Jiang et al., Hematology 2024 — meta-analysis (10 RCTs, 5003 patients): PFS/OS benefit in renal-impaired myeloma
  • Leypoldt et al. (GMMG-DANTE), Cancers 2023 — daratumumab-bortezomib-dexamethasone in severe renal impairment (GFR <30/dialysis); 67% renal response
  • Palladini et al. (ANDROMEDA), Blood 2020 — daratumumab-CyBorD in AL amyloidosis with organ (incl. renal) response

Clinical pearls

  • Daratumumab is renal-friendly: it improves outcomes and can recover renal function (even off dialysis) by clearing nephrotoxic light chains — no dose adjustment for CrCl.
  • Tumor lysis in high-burden disease is the main direct renal caveat — prophylax at initiation.
  • Daratumumab binds CD38 on red cells and confounds the antibody crossmatch — always alert the blood bank before transfusion.

Anticancer mechanism

Anti-CD38 IgG1κ monoclonal antibody killing myeloma plasma cells via complement-dependent cytotoxicity, ADCC, antibody-dependent phagocytosis, direct apoptosis and immunomodulation (depleting CD38+ regulatory cells); a backbone of newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and AL amyloidosis regimens.

Note

Net effect on the kidney is often favorable in myeloma (renal response/recovery); tumor lysis is the principal direct renal risk. Daratumumab also interferes with serologic crossmatch (binds CD38 on red cells), a transfusion-medicine pitfall relevant to renal-impaired/transfused patients.

Guidelines & consensus

Each recommendation below is this atlas's faithful summary of the source, not a quotation from it — follow the PubMed link for the wording the society published. Summaries may be superseded; consult the current full text and individualize to the patient.

  • ADQI (2026) — The nephrotoxic effects of anti-cancer therapies: consensus report of the 34th Acute Disease Quality Initiative workgroupProvides expert-based statements (modified Delphi) on preventing and managing cisplatin/platinum-associated AKI, including isotonic IV hydration, attention to volume status and concomitant nephrotoxins, and incorporates evidence that IV magnesium supplementation may reduce cisplatin-associated AKI; emphasizes risk stratification and standardized AKI definitions.Nat Rev Nephrol · PMID 41361704
  • SIRM (2022) — SIRM-SIN-AIOM: appropriateness criteria for evaluation and prevention of renal damage in the patient undergoing contrast medium examinations-consensus statements from Italian College of Radiology (SIRM), Italian College of Nephrology (SIN) and Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM)Recommends eGFR-based renal risk assessment and pre/post-contrast isotonic saline or sodium bicarbonate hydration; advises maintaining a 5-7 day interval between iodinated contrast administration and cisplatin in cancer patients to reduce additive nephrotoxicity.Radiol Med · PMID 35303246
  • KDIGO (2020) — KDIGO Controversies Conference on onco-nephrology: understanding kidney impairment and solid-organ malignancies, and managing kidney cancerIdentifies platinum compounds (especially cisplatin) as leading cytotoxic causes of acute tubular injury, AKI, and electrolyte/magnesium wasting; calls for interdisciplinary onco-nephrology care, accurate GFR estimation, and individualized drug dosing in patients with reduced kidney function.Kidney Int · PMID 33126977
  • KDIGO (2020) — KDIGO Controversies Conference on onco-nephrology: kidney disease in hematological malignancies and the burden of cancer after kidney transplantationAddresses chemotherapy-associated AKI/CKD in hematologic cancer, GFR estimation and chemotherapy dosing in patients with reduced kidney function, and management priorities and research gaps for onco-nephrology care.Kidney Int · PMID 33276867
  • ADDIKD (2025) — Integrating International Consensus Guidelines for Anticancer Drug Dosing in Kidney Dysfunction (ADDIKD) into everyday practiceProvides GRADE-based, drug-specific dose-adjustment recommendations for anticancer agents in kidney dysfunction (illustrated for methotrexate, cisplatin, carboplatin and nivolumab); the recommendations build on Part 1's standardised CKD-EPI eGFR assessment rather than Cockcroft-Gault creatinine clearance.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290844
  • ADDIKD (2025) — Aligning kidney function assessment in patients with cancer to global practices in internal medicineThree consensus recommendations: assess kidney function by GFR (measured GFR or CKD-EPI eGFR), classify it using KDIGO categories, and use this uniform approach to dose anticancer drugs — moving cancer medicine away from Cockcroft-Gault estimated creatinine clearance.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290845
  • ADDIKD (2025) — A methodology for determining dosing recommendations for anticancer drugs in patients with reduced kidney functionEstablishes that, where RCT evidence is lacking, anticancer drug dosing recommendations in kidney dysfunction should be derived by critically appraising observational literature via GRADE combined with structured international multidisciplinary consensus voting.EClinicalMedicine · PMID 40290846
  • KDIGO (2013) — Diagnosis, evaluation, and management of acute kidney injury: a KDIGO summary (Part 1)Defines/stages AKI by serum creatinine and urine output; emphasizes avoiding nephrotoxins, maintaining euvolemia/perfusion, dose-adjusting drugs to kidney function, and monitoring high-risk patients — the framework applied to nephrotoxic anti-cancer agents.Crit Care · PMID 23394211
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease: known knowns and known unknownsEvaluate and risk-stratify CKD, manage to delay progression and its complications, and practise explicit medication management and drug stewardship — the framework the atlas's G1–G5 eGFR banding and every renal dose-adjustment recommendation sit inside. Because the guideline excludes dialysis and transplant recipients by its own statement of scope, its recommendations do not carry to those settings, where this atlas's dialyzability and post-transplant guidance rests on other sources.Kidney Int · PMID 38519239
  • KDIGO (2021) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2021 Guideline for the Management of Glomerular DiseasesProvides the staging/treatment framework for drug-associated glomerular lesions (e.g., bisphosphonate- and interferon-related collapsing FSGS, VEGF-inhibitor podocytopathy/proteinuria), including immunosuppression and supportive RAAS-blockade strategies.Kidney Int · PMID 34556300
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of ANCA-Associated VasculitisUpdates immunosuppressive induction (rituximab/cyclophosphamide), incorporates avacopan and lower-dose or glucocorticoid-sparing regimens — the management framework for drug- and checkpoint-inhibitor-associated ANCA/pauci-immune glomerulonephritis.Kidney Int · PMID 38388147
  • KDIGO (2024) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2024 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Lupus NephritisUpdates first-line lupus nephritis therapy to combination immunosuppression with the addition of belimumab or a calcineurin inhibitor (voclosporin) — informs management of immune-complex/lupus-like glomerulonephritis encountered with immunotherapy.Kidney Int · PMID 38182299
  • KDIGO (2025) — Executive summary of the KDIGO 2025 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgAN) and Immunoglobulin A Vasculitis (IgAV)Encourages liberal kidney biopsy and stricter proteinuria control (<0.5 g/d, ideally <0.3 g/d) with RAAS blockers, SGLT2 inhibitors, and targeted-release budesonide — the framework for IgA-dominant glomerular lesions, including those triggered by immune-modulating cancer therapy.Kidney Int · PMID 40975525

References

8 peer-reviewed references. Citation metadata via PubMed / NLM.

  1. 1.Early daratumumab therapy improves renal outcomes in newly diagnosed patients with myeloma admitted with kidney injury.Kim EB, Malespini JE, Lei M, et al. · Blood Adv · 2025 · PMID 40085948
  2. 2.Application of CD38 monoclonal antibody in kidney disease.Chen Z, Xu Q, Shou Z · Front Immunol · 2024 · PMID 38799465
  3. 3.Efficacy of daratumumab on multiple myeloma patients with renal insufficiency: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Jiang H et al. · Hematology · 2024 · PMID 39248713
  4. 4.Evaluation of anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody-based immunotherapy in multiple myeloma with renal insufficiency: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Bai H et al. · Ther Adv Hematol · 2025 · PMID 39963097
  5. 5.Daratumumab, Bortezomib, and Dexamethasone for Treatment of Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma and Severe Renal Impairment: Results from the Phase 2 GMMG-DANTE Trial.Leypoldt LB et al. · Cancers (Basel) · 2023 · PMID 37760637
  6. 6.Daratumumab plus CyBorD for patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis: safety run-in results of ANDROMEDA.Palladini G et al. · Blood · 2020 · PMID 32244252
  7. 7.Anti-CD38 antibody therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma: differential mechanisms of action and recent clinical trial outcomes.Leleu X et al. · Ann Hematol · 2022 · PMID 35943588
  8. 8.Emergencies in Hematology: Why, When and How I Treat?Duminuco A et al. · J Clin Med · 2024 · PMID 39768494

Case reports & series (1)

The weakest rung of clinical evidence — single-patient and small-series reports, strongest first. Each carries a heuristic strength grade (A Strong / B Moderate / C Limited) inferred from its abstract and journal, not a formal appraisal. Weigh well below the primary references above.

  1. C1.[C · Limited]Tumor Lysis Syndrome Associated with Monoclonal Antibodies in Patients with Multiple Myeloma: A Pharmacovigilance Study Based on the FAERS Database.Xia S et al. · Clin Pharmacol Ther · 2023 · PMID 37086211
Educational monograph from NephTox (nephtox.com). Not medical advice — verify against current guidelines before any clinical decision.