CAR T-Cell Therapy Yields High Response Rate in Aggressive Lymphoma

Patients with advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma have limited options after treatment failure with chemotherapy or transplant.

In this video, Frederick Locke, MD, of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, discusses results of the ZUMA-1 trial, which tested chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; KTE-C19) in this patient population. The treatment is given as a single infusion after conditioning chemotherapy with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide.

The multicenter clinical trial enrolled 111 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, and transformed follicular lymphoma. Nearly all (99%) were able to have axi-cel manufactured from their cells. A total of 101 patients (91%) received the CAR T-cell therapy (10 patients were unable to receive therapy after cell collection, most due to disease progression).

Locke highlights the overall and complete response rates in the trial, compares the results to previous data involving other treatments in a similar patient population, and reviews toxicities associated with CAR T-cell therapy.

The results of ZUMA-1, which showed a 6-month overall survival of 80% (compared to 55% for historical controls), were presented at the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, held April 1–5 in Washington, DC.