Dr. Wang on Challenges Treating Patients With Relapsed/Refractory MCL

Michael Wang, MD, professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses challenges in treating patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Relapsed/refractory MCL is more common among patients with high-risk features such as high Ki-67, a blastoid or pleomorphic karyotype, p53 mutation, or a complex chromosomal karyotype, says Wang. Curative therapies do not exist for these patients; therefore, the best chance of combatting the disease lies in cellular therapies.

Many trials are ongoing in this space. For example, the phase I TRANSCEND NHL 001 trial (NCT02631044) is examining the anti—CD19 CAR T-cell therapy lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel; JCAR017) in patients with relapsed/refractory disease. Preliminary results presented by Wang at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting indicated an overall response rate of 78% and tolerable toxicity with the therapy. Additionally, there is the phase II ZUMA-2 trial, which is testing the activity of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta), results for which are likely to be presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting.