Dr. Flinn on CAR T-Cell Therapy in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Ian Flinn, MD, director of the Blood Cancer Research Program, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

At the 2018 European Hematology Association Congress, updates were presented on the ZUMA-1 trial. The ZUMA-1 trial examined the use of the anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel (KTE-C19; axi-cel) in patients with refractory aggressive NHL. Results were previously published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Axi-cel demonstrated an objective response rate of 82% and a complete response rate of 54% in patients with NHL. Updated results show long-term responses, states Flinn.

Flinn says that the durability of remission was of particular interest, as the fall-off for response typically occurs within the first 3 months of treatment. If patients achieve a complete remission or a partial remission and keep that remission for 3 months, they are likely to maintain that response, explains Flinn.