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Immunotoxin (IL-2–diphtheria)

Denileukin diftitox

Lymphir · DENI

Immunotoxin (IL-2–diphtheria) · approved 2024 · 7 references

An IL-2/diphtheria-toxin fusion whose capillary-leak syndrome drives prerenal AKI — check albumin before every cycle.

Signature injury
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
Severity
Moderate
Reversibility
Reversible
Onset
Acute, peri-infusion (first 1-2 cycles); generally not cumulative.

Signature kidney injury & incidence

Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

Capillary-leak syndrome (CLS) occurred in ~20.3% (grade >=3 ~5.8%) in the 2024 denileukin diftitox-cxdl trial. With the original formulation hypoalbuminemia was very common (~79%, ~15% grade 3/4) and a vascular-leak syndrome occurred in roughly a quarter of patients. AKI here is prerenal/hemodynamic rather than a quantified direct renal injury rate.

Source: Foss et al., J Clin Oncol 2024 (20.3% capillary-leak syndrome; attributable AKI rate not separately quantified)

Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.

Onset timing & rechallenge

Acute (~1–7 days) — Acute, peri-infusion over the first one to two cycles (capillary-leak prerenal AKI); generally not cumulative.

Mechanism of kidney injury

Capillary/vascular-leak syndrome: IL-2- and toxin-mediated endothelial injury increases vascular permeability, causing fluid and protein extravasation, hypoalbuminemia and intravascular volume depletion, which produces prerenal (hemodynamic) AKI. It is not a direct tubular nephrotoxin.

Clinical presentation

Hypotension, edema, weight gain, hypoalbuminemia and a rising creatinine, often with infusion reactions and transaminase elevation. Onset is within days of infusion, mainly in the first 1-2 cycles.

Management

For CLS: give IV fluids and albumin repletion, hold or discontinue for grade >=3, and provide supportive care for edema. For prerenal AKI: restore volume and perfusion. Most events reverse hemodynamically and are not cumulative.

Risk factors

  • Low baseline serum albumin (key CLS risk — do not initiate if albumin below ~3.0 g/dL)
  • Pre-existing edema or volume overload
  • Cardiovascular compromise and baseline hypotension

Prevention

  • Optimize serum albumin before each cycle; do not initiate if albumin <3.0 g/dL
  • Premedicate (corticosteroids, antihistamines, antipyretics)
  • Ensure euvolemia/hydration and monitor weight and blood pressure

Renal dose adjustment

Weight-based dosing (9 micrograms/kg/day for 5 days every 21 days); modification is driven by toxicity (albumin, organ function), not by CrCl. No CrCl-based dose thresholds are defined.

Dialyzability & ESKD dosing

Not established — a large fusion protein; AKI here is managed hemodynamically rather than by dialytic drug removal.

Differential diagnosis

Distinguish CLS-driven prerenal AKI from sepsis or GI-loss prerenal states, cardiorenal/volume overload, hepatorenal physiology, tumor nephropathy, and infusion-reaction hypotension — versus intrinsic ATN.

Monitoring

  • Serum albumin before each cycle (gating parameter)
  • Daily weight and blood pressure during cycles
  • Edema and infusion-reaction assessment

Key trials & series

  • Pivotal phase 3 of denileukin diftitox-cxdl (Foss, J Clin Oncol 2024) — CLS ~20.3% (grade >=3 ~5.8%)
  • Original Ontak pivotal phase 3 (Olsen, J Clin Oncol 2001) — vascular-leak/hypoalbuminemia profile

Clinical pearls

  • Check albumin before every cycle and do not start if it is below ~3.0 g/dL — the AKI is prerenal, not tubular.
  • CLS clusters in the first cycles within days of infusion — front-load monitoring.
  • The improved-purity cxdl (Lymphir) formulation has CLS ~20% (grade >=3 ~6%).
  • Treat hemodynamically — volume plus albumin reverse most prerenal AKI; injury is generally reversible and non-cumulative.

Anticancer mechanism

Engineered fusion protein joining interleukin-2 to the catalytic and translocation fragments of diphtheria toxin (DAB389IL-2). IL-2 binds the high-affinity IL-2 receptor (CD25/IL-2R-alpha) on malignant T cells; after internalization the diphtheria-toxin fragment ADP-ribosylates elongation factor 2, halting protein synthesis and causing apoptosis.

Note

Frontier-era 2024 reapproval (improved-purity formulation); the original Ontak was approved in 1999 and withdrawn ~2014 for manufacturing/purity reasons. Renal mechanism is capillary leak / prerenal AKI, well described across formulations.

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

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

  1. 1.Efficacy and Safety of Denileukin Diftitox-Cxdl, an Improved Purity Formulation of Denileukin Diftitox, in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma.Foss FM et al. · J Clin Oncol · 2024 · PMID 39700456
  2. 2.Pivotal phase III trial of two dose levels of denileukin diftitox for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.Olsen E et al. · J Clin Oncol · 2001 · PMID 11208829
  3. 3.E7777 in Japanese patients with relapsed/refractory peripheral and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma: A phase I study.Ohmachi K et al. · Cancer Sci · 2018 · PMID 29363235
  4. 4.Denileukin diftitox for the treatment of steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease.Shaughnessy PJ et al. · Biol Blood Marrow Transplant · 2005 · PMID 15744237
  5. 5.Clinically approved immunotoxins targeting hematological cancers: "the best of both worlds".Rashad Y et al. · Front Pharmacol · 2025 · PMID 41181593
  6. 6.Onconephrology: Core Curriculum 2023.Yarandi N et al. · Am J Kidney Dis · 2023 · PMID 37855786
  7. 7.A phase-1 trial of bexarotene and denileukin diftitox in patients with relapsed or refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.Foss F et al. · Blood · 2005 · PMID 15811959

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]Denileukin diftitox-induced systemic capillary leak syndrome with acute kidney injury.Horino T et al. · CEN Case Rep · 2023 · PMID 35870043
Educational monograph from NephTox (nephtox.com). Not medical advice — verify against current guidelines before any clinical decision.