SOHO 2021 | Managing the toxicities and increased infection risk for patients receiving CAR-T
Michael L. Wang, MD, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, discusses the main challenges of addressing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy-associated toxicities in patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Significant progress has been made regarding the management of CAR-T-associated cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity; however, CAR-T associated infections remain largely unaddressed. Patients with relapsed MCL are usually immunocompromised as a result of heavy pretreatment with rituximab and chemotherapy. CAR-T therapy in these patients may lead to B-cell aplasia, which results in a higher risk of infections and worse COVID-19 outcomes. As CAR-T therapy becomes more prevalent in the treatment of MCL, it will be increasingly important to properly manage these infections. This interview took place during the ninth annual meeting of the Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO 2021) congress.
Disclosures
Michael Wang, MD, PhD, has participated in consultancy work with AstraZeneca, Bayer Healthcare, BeiGene, CSTone, DTRM Biopharma (Cayman) Limited, Epizyme, Genentech, InnoCare, Janssen, Juno, Kite Pharma, Loxo Oncology, Miltenyi Biomedicine GmbH, Oncternal, Pharmacyclics and VelosBio; has received research funding from Acerta Pharma, AstraZeneca, BeiGene, BioInvent, Celgene, Innocare, Janssen, Juno, Kite Pharma, Lilly, Loxo Oncology, Molecular Templates, Oncternal, Pharmacyclics and VelosBio; has received honoraria from Acerta Pharma, Anticancer Association, AstraZeneca, BeiGene, CAHON, Chinese Medical Association, Clinical Care Options, Dava Oncology, Epizyme, Hebei Cancer Prevention Federation, Imbruvica, Imedex, Janssen, Kite Pharma, Miltenyi Biomedicine GmbH, Moffit Cancer Center, Mumbai Hematology Group, Newbridge Pharmaceuticals, OMI, Physicians Education Resources (PER), Scripps, The First Afflicted Hospital of Zhejiang University and BGICS.
