New Therapeutic Target for Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) Using Anti-CD38+ Monoclonal Antibodies.

Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) are rare diseases that are dermatologic emergencies characterized by widespread epidermal necrosis and sloughing of skin. A hundred patients are affected each year in France. The main symptom is bullous and skin detachment \> 10% which gradually progresses to extensive necrosis of the 100% BSA epidermis. The mortality rate is around 15-20% due to visceral inflammatory injuries and serious bacterial infections. The morbidity is also very important (92% at 1 year), especially ophthalmologic with high risk of blindness. There is currently no effective treatment.

Our team recently demonstrated that the severity of the disease correlates with the quantity and quality of CD8+ T lymphocytes which are activated in the active phase of disease. An activation marker has been identified, the CD38 receptor, which is very strongly expressed on the T clones responsible for the disease in the skin or blood of patients The CD38 receptor is the target of several commercial therapeutic antibodies, including DARATUMUMAB, which is currently used for the treatment of myeloma. DARATUMUMAB is a depleting antibody that eliminates cells strongly expressing this receptor.

The hypothesis is that a single intravenous infusion of DARATUMUMAB upon hospital admission of a patient with drug-induced NET would eliminate pathogenic T cells, thereby slowing disease progression, severity (% BSA with skin detachment, mortality rate) and sequelae.