Key CAR T and Transplantation Presentations From The 2025 Tandem Meeting

CancerNetwork®, in collaboration with The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT), organized an X Space hosted by Rahul Banerjee, MD, FACP, an assistant Professor in the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, and Shernan Holtan, MD, the chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and professor of Medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The conversation took place during the 2025 Tandem Meeting and highlighted many significant presentations and posters on CAR T-cell therapies and transplantation, Banerjee’s and Holtan’s respective areas of expertise.

The following trials were discussed:

LBA1 - Phase II Multicenter Trial of Idecabtagene Vicleucel (Ide-cel) Followed By Lenalidomide Maintenance for Multiple Myeloma Patients with Sub-Optimal Response after an Upfront Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Top Line Results from the BMT CTN 1902 Clinical Trial¹

“This [study] is nice because it merges 2 worlds. It's like a tandem—but not really a tandem—because you're not doing 2 transplants back-to-back. You're doing a transplant followed by CAR T-cell therapy,” said Banerjee.

Abstract 50 - CAR T Cell Therapy in Early Relapsed/Refractory Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Real World Analysis from the Cell Therapy Consortium²

“In a relatively small cohort, [investigators] found no difference in 9-month survival whether someone got their [CAR T cells] in second-line therapy vs third-line therapy from a statistical perspective. If you look at the curves, it looks like there is a potential benefit to second-line therapy, but there was not enough statistical power to determine a difference,” said Holtan.

Poster 340 - CD83 Expression By Human Breast Cancer Mediates Effective Killing By CAR T³

“If there's a way to do [the therapy] armored and have a paracrine delivered in real time—and not given to the whole body—[so] the patient [would] have all the adverse effects and cytokine release syndrome release on their own…that would be awesome,” stated Banerjee.

Poster 317 - Risk Factors for Immune Effector Cell-Associated Enterocolitis (IEC-colitis) in Patients with Relapsed Myeloma Treated with Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel (cilta-cel)⁴

“From the best that we can tell, ironically, corticosteroids aren't the fix that we want them to be [for immune effector cell-associated colitis]…We were like ‘Diarrhea, whatever. Let's give some steroids and treat it like gut graft-versus-host-disease,’ but these patients [didn’t] respond as well [to that],” said Banerjee.

Poster 572 - Post-CAR-T Driving Restrictions Appear Unnecessary after Week 4: Data from the US Multiple Myeloma Immunotherapy Consortium⁵

“Patients and their caregivers [who have] put their life aside for 4 weeks just to get through CAR T-cell therapy and the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies requirements are now being told ‘You're free to go, but you can't drive for 4 weeks, which means you can't get your own groceries or…go to doctor's appointments by yourself.’ Basically, we argue…that this [requirement] is not evidence-based,” stated Banerjee.

Presentation 58 - Physical Function Measures Identify Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients at High Risk of Immune Effector Cell-Associated Neurotoxicity Syndrome (ICANS) and 1-Year Mortality after Chimeric Antigen Receptor T (CAR-T) Cell Therapy⁶

“This [presentation] highlights that even within a high [CAR-HEMATOTOX group], those patients were at extraordinarily high risk of not benefitting from CAR T-cell therapy, and these tests are so simple to do. It’s going to be interesting to see if others can reproduce this,” said Holtan.

Poster 618 - Comparison of Outcomes after Hematopoietic STEM Cell Transplantation (HCT) for Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) Patients Older or Younger THAN 65 YEARS Old. a Retrospective Analysis of the Latin America Registry⁷

“My personal hope for this space is that our field can come up with more novel conditioning regimens such that we can ablate the marrow without causing those gastrointestinal toxicities or other organ toxicities [while] doing that so effectively that we don't even need maintenance therapies for a lot of conditions,” stated Holtan.

Presentation 39 - Determinants of Immune Suppression Discontinuation in the Modern Era: A CIBMTR Analysis of 18,642 Subjects⁸

“I’m going to make a provocative prediction for the next paper [approximately 10 years from now]. I predict that steroids won’t be the first-line therapy for acute or chronic graft-versus-host-disease,” Holtan said.

Poster 516 - Patient Experiences with Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease and Its Treatment in the United States: A Retrospective Social Media Listening Study⁹

“We can still work together to make life as good as we possibly can [for patients], to improve physical function, to take away some of this mental distress, and then work together for advocacy too. [We can] help with peer support, help with resources, and help relieve some of that misunderstanding in the community,” stated Holtan.

References

1. Garfall AL, Pasquini MC, Bai L, et al. Phase II multicenter trial of idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) followed by lenalidomide maintenance for multiple myeloma patients with sub-optimal response after an upfront autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation: top line results from the BMT CTN 1902 clinical trial. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Abstract LBA-1.
2. Rojek AE, Ahmed N, Gomez-Llobell M, et al. CAR T cell therapy in early relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma: real world analysis from the cell therapy consortium. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Abstract 50.
3. Betts BC, Davilla ML, Linden AM, et al. CD83 expression by human breast cancer mediates effective killing by CAR T. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Poster ID 340.
4. Chang Lim KJ, Chhabra S, Corraes ADMS, et al. Risk factors for immune effector cell-associated enterocolitis (IEC-colitis) in patients with relapsed myeloma treated with ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel). Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Poster ID 317.
5. Banerjee R, Richards A, Khouri J, et al. Post-CAR-T driving restrictions appear unnecessary after week 4: data from the US multiple myeloma immunotherapy consortium. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Poster ID 572.
6. Herr M, McCarthy P, Jacobsen H, et al. Physical function measures identify non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients at high risk of immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) and 1-year mortality after chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Presentation ID 58.
7. Duarte FB, Garcia YDO, Funke VAM, et al. Comparison of outcomes after hematopoietic STEM cell transplantation (HCT) for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients older or younger THAN 65 YEARS Old. A retrospective analysis of the Latin America registry. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Poster ID 618.
8. Pidala J, DeFlilipp Z, DeVos J, et al. Determinants of immune suppression discontinuation in the modern era: a CIBMTR analysis of 18,642 subjects. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Presentation ID 39.
9. Cowden M, Derrien-Connors C, Holtan S, et al. Patient experiences with chronic graft-versus-host disease and its treatment in the United States: A retrospective social media listening study. Presented at: 2025 Transplant and Cellular Therapy Meetings; February 12-15, 2025; Honolulu, HI. Poster ID 516.