Dr. Davids on the Use of CAR T-Cell Therapy in CLL

Matthew S. Davids, MD, MMSc, associate director, Center for Lymphocytic Leukemia, physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the use of CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Currently, patients with high-risk CLL have short survival with novel agent monotherapy. A recent study using lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel; JCAR017) for patients with CLL showed a promising complete remission rate of 45.5%. Additionally, 60% of patients had undetectable minimal residual disease by next-generation sequencing at day 30, and 27% of patients showed a deepened response after day 30.

Investigators are waiting to see how patients react long-term after receiving liso-cel, but the results look promising. The safety profile is favorable in these patients who have already been exposed to ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and venetoclax (Venclexta). According to Davids, more research needs to be conducted to see the effects of liso-cel alone and in combination with ibrutinib.