EBMT 2022 | An overview of the latest advances in hematology
Mohamad Mohty, MD, PhD, Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France, gives an update on the latest developments in the field of hematology. In the past few years, the introduction of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies has had a significant impact on the outcomes of patients with lymphoma, and these therapies are now challenging the use of standard of care (SOC) therapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In addition, other immunotherapeutic agents such as bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates are proving to be very effective in treating acute leukemias before and after HSCT. Microbiota modulation is another hot topic in hematology, and strategies to modify the microbiota are expected to greatly improve patient outcomes in the future. This interview took place at the 48th Annual Meeting of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) 2022, which was held virtually.
Transcript (edited for clarity)
This is really a fantastic era for all of us involved in treating hematologic malignancies with or without transplantation. Obviously, it can take hours and hours to go through all of the advances we have seen over the last few years. However, if I want to give general picture about what’s ongoing in this space, I would say that now cellular therapies, especially CAR-T, but now we are seeing also other cellular therapies beside CAR-T, are really making a huge difference in the life of many patients with relapsed/refractory diseases...
This is really a fantastic era for all of us involved in treating hematologic malignancies with or without transplantation. Obviously, it can take hours and hours to go through all of the advances we have seen over the last few years. However, if I want to give general picture about what’s ongoing in this space, I would say that now cellular therapies, especially CAR-T, but now we are seeing also other cellular therapies beside CAR-T, are really making a huge difference in the life of many patients with relapsed/refractory diseases. And we’ve seen that in lymphoma, for instance, high-grade lymphoma, these CAR-Ts are definitely challenging the use of autologous stem cell transplantation. So clearly this is one key advance.
The other key advance is the introduction of bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates in ALL, but also in AML. And these agents are proving to be highly effective and useful, not only before transplant, but maybe after transplant, as we see in ALL for instance, in the use of bispecific antibodies.
Another huge advance, which is just starting now, is the modulation of the microbiota. And I think this is a new frontier in medicine, but also in hematology and cancer in general. The capacity to modify the richness and the diversity of the microbiota in these patients is likely to improve their outcomes. And actually it can synergize to further improve the efficacy of their well-established treatments today, like conventional chemotherapies, but also cellular therapies and immune therapies. So in general, I think the future looks very bright when it comes to these advances in hematology. And I think the pace of progress is really, really accelerating.
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