Dr. Ramakrishnan on Use of CAR T-Cell Therapy in MCL

Praveen Ramakrishnan, MD, assistant professor, Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, discusses CAR T-cell therapy in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

CAR T-cell therapy is a novel agent being explored in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory lymphomas. Michael Wang, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, presented on the ZUMA-2 trial (NCT02601313) at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting. This study utilized the anti-CD19 KTE-X19 product. The CAR T-cell product looks very promising, says Ramakrishnan.

The ZUMA-2 trial enrolled patients with MCL who had received ≤5 prior lines of therapy, which must have included an anti-CD20 antibody, chemotherapy, and a BTK inhibitor. Sixty-seven percent of patients experienced a complete remission rate. It is an exciting time to be practicing as a lymphoma doctor, concludes Ramakrishnan.