Bispecific (DLL3×CD3)
Tarlatamab
Imdelltra · Tarla
Bispecific (DLL3×CD3) · approved 2024 · 7 references
A DLL3×CD3 BiTE for small-cell lung cancer — cytokine release can drive pre-renal AKI.
- Signature injury
- Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI
- Severity
- Moderate
- Reversibility
- Reversible
- Onset
- CRS typically within the first cycle, often after the first full (post-priming) doses; AKI tracks the CRS course.
Signature kidney injury & incidence
Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI.
Cytokine release syndrome is the dominant on-target toxicity — common (majority of patients in early studies), mostly low-grade, and mitigated by step-up/priming dosing and inpatient monitoring of initial doses. AKI is principally a downstream consequence of CRS (hypotension, fever, capillary leak, volume shifts) rather than a direct tubular toxin; renal-specific incidence is not separately well quantified.
Source: Paz-Ares et al., J Clin Oncol 2023 (DeLLphi-300)
Reported injury signatures: Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKI, Acute Tubular Necrosis.
Renal toxicity profile
- Prerenal / Hemodynamic AKIPrimary
- Acute Tubular NecrosisSecondary
Onset timing & rechallenge
Acute (~1–7 days) — CRS within the first cycle after the first full doses; AKI tracks the CRS course.
Mechanism of kidney injury
Clinical presentation
Management
Risk factors
- Higher CRS grade
- Volume depletion at dosing
- Pre-existing CKD
- Concurrent nephrotoxins
- High disease burden
Prevention
- Step-up/priming dosing and protocol-defined monitoring per label
- Prompt CRS recognition and treatment
- Avoid nephrotoxins during the CRS window
Renal dose adjustment
Dialyzability & ESKD dosing
Differential diagnosis
Monitoring
- Vital signs/temperature and oxygenation intensively around initial doses (CRS watch)
- Serum creatinine and electrolytes through the CRS window
- Inflammatory markers (ferritin, CRP) if CRS suspected
- Neuro checks for ICANS
Key trials & series
- DeLLphi-300 (Paz-Ares JCO 2023) first-in-class phase I
- DeLLphi-301 phase II (registrational)
- Sands Cancer 2025 practical CRS-management guidance
Clinical pearls
- The AKI is CRS hemodynamics, not a tubular poison — fix the blood pressure and fever and the kidney follows.
- Priming/step-up dosing with inpatient monitoring of first doses is the single most important renal-protective measure.
- Tocilizumab plus fluids and steroids per CRS grade restores perfusion and reverses most AKI.
- Watch for the rare cytokine-driven collapsing glomerulopathy seen with related T-cell redirectors if heavy proteinuria appears.
Anticancer mechanism
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.
- ASCO (2021) — Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events in Patients Treated With Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy: ASCO GuidelineGrade toxicities by ASTCT criteria; manage CRS with supportive care escalating to tocilizumab with or without corticosteroids, and manage moderate-to-severe ICANS with corticosteroids and supportive care given potential for rapid decline.J Clin Oncol · PMID 34724386
- TLS Expert Panel (2008) — Guidelines for the management of pediatric and adult tumor lysis syndrome: an evidence-based reviewPrevention is the best management: hydration plus prophylactic rasburicase for high-risk patients, hydration plus allopurinol or rasburicase for intermediate-risk, and monitoring for low-risk; for established TLS add aggressive hydration and diuresis plus allopurinol or rasburicase for hyperuricemia. Urinary alkalinization is NOT recommended.J Clin Oncol · PMID 18509186
- TLS Consensus Panel (2010) — Recommendations for the evaluation of risk and prophylaxis of tumour lysis syndrome (TLS) in adults and children with malignant diseases: an expert TLS panel consensusStratify each patient as low/intermediate/high TLS risk using tumor type, bulk/stage, proliferation rate, baseline laboratory TLS, and renal impairment/involvement, then match prophylaxis intensity (monitoring vs allopurinol vs rasburicase) to the assigned risk level.Br J Haematol · PMID 20331465
- BCSH (2015) — Guidelines for the management of tumour lysis syndrome in adults and children with haematological malignancies on behalf of the British Committee for Standards in HaematologyRisk-adapted prophylaxis and management of TLS in haematological malignancy: hydration with allopurinol for lower-risk and rasburicase for high-risk patients, with monitoring of electrolytes and renal function to prevent and treat AKI.Br J Haematol · PMID 25876990
- Cairo-Bishop (2004) — Tumour lysis syndrome: new therapeutic strategies and classificationDefines the Cairo-Bishop criteria distinguishing laboratory TLS (>=2 metabolic abnormalities: hyperuricemia, hyperkalemia, hyperphosphatemia, hypocalcemia within 3 days before to 7 days after therapy) from clinical TLS (laboratory TLS plus AKI, cardiac arrhythmia, or seizure), with a severity grading scheme adopted by subsequent guidelines.Br J Haematol · PMID 15384972
- ASTCT (2019) — ASTCT Consensus Grading for Cytokine Release Syndrome and Neurologic Toxicity Associated with Immune Effector CellsGrade CRS by fever, hypotension and hypoxia (grades 1-4) and grade ICANS using the ICE/encephalopathy score plus level of consciousness, seizures, motor findings and raised intracranial pressure/edema; this is the standard severity framework that triggers tocilizumab and corticosteroid escalation in CAR-T and bispecific antibody toxicity (the Lee 2019 consensus).Biol Blood Marrow Transplant · PMID 30592986
- 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.Initial Dose Tarlatamab-Associated Tumour Lysis Syndrome in Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Case Report.Shibata K, Tanaka H, Arai Y, et al · Respirol Case Rep · 2026 · PMID 42371484
- 2.Tarlatamab, a First-in-Class DLL3-Targeted Bispecific T-Cell Engager, in Recurrent Small-Cell Lung Cancer: An Open-Label, Phase I Study.Paz-Ares L et al. · J Clin Oncol · 2023 · PMID 36689692
- 3.Practical management of adverse events in patients receiving tarlatamab, a delta-like ligand 3-targeted bispecific T-cell engager immunotherapy, for previously treated small cell lung cancer.Sands JM et al. · Cancer · 2025 · PMID 39876075
- 4.Collapsing Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis and Acute Kidney Injury Associated With Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell (CAR-T) Therapy: A Case Report.Acharya R et al. · Kidney Med · 2021 · PMID 34939018
- 5.Renal Side Effects of Novel Molecular Targeted Oncologic Agents.Fenoglio R et al. · G Ital Nefrol · 2023 · PMID 38007829
- 6.Conventional Chemotherapy Nephrotoxicity.Gupta S et al. · Adv Chronic Kidney Dis · 2021 · PMID 35190107
- 7.Current Trends in Anti-Cancer Molecular Targeted Therapies: Renal Complications and Their Histological Features.Tonooka A et al. · J Nippon Med Sch · 2021 · PMID 34840210
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.
- C1.[B · Moderate]Tarlatamab-Induced Tumor Lysis Syndrome in Small Cell Carcinoma: Case Series.Lobsiger BM et al. · Clin Lung Cancer · 2026 · PMID 41109815