Cladribine Tablets Mode of Action, Learning from the Pandemic: A Narrative Review

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system, characterized by chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating, and neurodegenerative processes. MS management relies on disease-modifying drugs that suppress/modulate the immune system. Cladribine tablets (CladT) have been approved by different health authorities for patients with various forms of relapsing MS. The drug has been demonstrated to deplete CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells, with a higher effect described in the former, and to decrease total CD19+, CD20+, and naive B-cell counts. COVID-19 is expected to become endemic, suggesting its potential infection risk for immuno-compromised patients, including MS patients treated with disease-modifying drugs. We report here the available data on disease-modifying drug-treated-MS patients and COVID-19 infection and vaccination, with a focus on CladT. MS patients treated with CladT are not at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19. While anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is recommended in all MS patients with guidelines addressing vaccination timing according to the different disease-modifying drugs, no vaccination timing restrictions seem to be necessary for cladribine, based on its mechanism of action and available evidence. Published data suggest that CladT treatment does not impact the production of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after COVID-19 vaccination, possibly due to its relative sparing effect on naïve B-cells and the rapid B-cell reconstitution following treatment. Slightly lower specific T-cell responses are likely not impacting the risk of breakthrough COVID-19. It could be stated that cladribine’s transient effect on innate immune cells likely contributes to maintaining an adequate first line of defense against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.