Study Assesses Outcomes of CD19 CAR T-Cell Therapy for Burkitt Lymphoma

Results from a multicenter, retrospective chart review assessing real-world outcomes among patients with Burkitt lymphoma treated with CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy were presented at the 2023 the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.

The retrospective review, led by Laura Samples, MD, of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues, was conducted by abstracting data from the medical charts of patients with Burkitt lymphoma who received CAR T-cell therapy across the United States. Demographic characteristics were assessed along with pre-CAR treatments, bridging therapies, infusion-related complications, CAR-T responses, and the use of post-CAR systemic therapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).

A total of 13 patients with relapsed or refractory Burkitt lymphoma received CAR T-cell therapy after a median of three prior therapies (range, 1-6). Most patients received axicabtagene ciloleucel (n=8), although tisagenlecleucel (n=3) and lisocabtagene maraleucel (n=2) were also represented. The median age of these patients was 38 (range, 24-68). A total of six (46.2%) had evidence of central nervous system involvement at diagnosis and five (38.5%) had a prior history of autologous HSCT.

The overall response rate (ORR) one month after infusion was 69.2% with a complete response rate (CRR) of 53.8%. All patients experienced grade 1-2 cytokine release syndrome (CRS). No one experienced grade ≥3 CRS, but two patients developed grade ≥3 immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). Twenty-eight-day mortality was 23%, including one patient who died from grade 4 ICANS.

Looking at long term data, only four (30.8%) patients sustained a CR for more than six months. Median progression-free survival was 4.2 months (95% CI, 28.2-257.6), and the one-year overall survival rate was 61.5% (95% CI, 0.56-0.67). Two (15.4%) patients received consolidative allogeneic stem cell transplants after CAR T-cell therapy, but both ultimately developed progressive disease.

Reference

Samples LS, Sadrzadeh H, Frigault MJ, et al. Outcomes among adult recipients of CD19 CAR T-cell therapy for Burkitt lymphoma. Abstract #7571. Presented at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting; June 2-6, 2023; Chicago, Illinois.