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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (R/R) large B cell lymphoma (LBCL). However, elderly patients might not be candidates for this therapy due to its toxicity, and criteria for candidate selection are lacking. Our aim was to analyze efficacy and toxicity results of CAR-T cell therapy in the population of patients 70 years and older as compared to those obtained in younger patients in the real-world setting. A multicentric retrospective study was performed including patients with R/R aggressive LBCL who received commercial CAR-T cell therapy with either tisagenlecleucel or axicabtagene ciloleucel within the Spanish Group of Hematopoietic Transplant and Cell Therapy/Spanish Group of Lymphomas and Autologous Transplant (GETH-TC/GELTAMO) centers between 2019 and 2023. As of August 2023, 442 adult patients with aggressive LBCL underwent apheresis for CAR-T cell therapy as third or subsequent line and follow-up data was collected. Of 412 infused patients, 71 (17%) were 70 years or older. Baseline characteristics, product selection, and characteristics at apheresis (including disease status, Ann Arbor stage, revised international prognosis index (R-IPI), bulky disease, lactate dehydrogenase [LDH] and ECOG [Eastern Cooperative Group performance status]) were comparable between groups. Median time from both approval to infusion and apheresis to infusion did not differ. No differences were found between groups in overall and complete response rates at 1 and 3 months. With a median follow-up of 12.2 months (range 1-44), 12-month progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were comparable between groups (35.2% in <70 years vs. 35.9% in ≥70 years (P = .938) and 51.1% and 52.1% (P = .885), respectively). Age ≥70 years did not affect PFS (hazard ratio (HR) 0.98, P = .941) and OS (HR 0.97, P = .890) in the univariate and multivariate analysis. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) was observed in 82% of patients <70 years old and 84.5% in ≥ 70 years old (P = .408). Grade ≥3 CRS was more frequent in the older group (5% vs. 15%, P = .002). In the multivariate analysis, age ≥70 years was associated with an increased risk of grade ≥3 CRS (OR 3.7, P = .013). No differences were observed in terms of overall neurotoxicity (35% vs. 42%, P = .281) or grade ≥3 (12% vs. 17%, P = .33). The proportion of patients with infections, admission to the intensive care unit within the first month, and non-relapse mortality were similar between both groups. CAR-T cell therapy in patients older than 70 years showed similar efficacy to that observed in younger patients in the real-world setting. However, age ≥70 years was an independent risk factor for grades 3-4 CRS. The need for additional strategies to reduce toxicity in this population should be addressed in future studies., (Copyright © 2024 The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) has emerged as a promising therapy, over 60% of patients fail to sustain a long-term response. The underlying factors that leads to the effectiveness of this therapy are not completely understood, CAR-T cell persistence and monitoring seems to be pivotal for ensuring a successful response. Various monitoring methods such as multiparametric flow cytometry (MFC) or quantitative PCR (qPCR) have been applied. Our objective is to develop digital PCR (dPCR) assays for detection and quantification of CAR-T cells, comparing them with MFC and qPCR. Samples taken at different follow-up times from 45 patients treated with CAR-T therapy were analyzed to assess the correlation between the different methodologies. dPCR presented a high correlation with MFC and qPCR (r = 0.97 and r = 0.87, respectively), while offering a higher sensitivity (0.01%) compared to MFC (0.1%) and qPCR (1%). dPCR emerged as an alternative and highly sensitivity method for monitoring CAR-T cell dynamics. This technique is well-suited for implementation in clinical practice as a complementary technique to MFC., (Copyright © 2024 The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We propose a novel biomarker that can identify patients at high risk of early progression after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. Calculation of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) with a pre-apheresis (PA) and pre-lymphodepletion (PL) sample allows monitoring of tumor dynamics (∆cfDNA). In the present study, ∆cfDNA and other biomarkers and clinical variables were evaluated in 58 patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). ∆cfDNA (>11 ng/mL plasma; P =.003), C-reactive protein (CRP) PL (>1.06 mg/dL; P = .004), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) PL (>304; P = .006), disease status PL (progressive disease; P = .035) and sex (male; P = .016) were highly correlated with 1 month progression. After adjusting for ∆cfDNA, CRP PL, and LDH PL, disease status PL, and sex, ∆cfDNA remained associated with 1-month progression after CAR T cell infusion., (Copyright © 2023 The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCY) effectively prevents graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after unmanipulated HLA-haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and achieves low rates of GVHD in HLA-identical transplantation. To compare the outcomes of haploidentical versus HLA identical HSCT in patients undergoing HSCT for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) using PTCY. We conducted a retrospective study of 229 patients undergoing first HSCT for AML using PTCY with additional immunosuppression, 99 from matched sibling or unrelated donor (MSD/MUD) performed in 3 hospitals and 130 from haploidentical donors (haplo group) performed in 20 hospitals within the Spanish Group of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Peripheral blood stem cells were used as graft in 89% of patients; myeloablative conditioning was used in 56%. There were significantly more patients with active disease (5% versus 20%, P = .001), high/very high disease risk index (DRI) (32% versus 67%, P = .000) and prior auto-HSCT (2% versus 11%, P = .010) in the haplo group. Median follow-up was 27 and 62.5 months for MSD/MUD and haplo, respectively. At 2 years, no significant differences were observed in overall survival (OS) (72% versus 62%, P = .07), event-free survival (EFS) (70% versus 54%, P = .055), cumulative incidence of relapse (19% versus 25%, P = .13), non-relapse mortality (14% versus 19%, P = .145), and the composite endpoint of GVHD and relapse-free survival (49% versus 42%, P = .249). Multivariate analysis identified only age and active disease as significant risk factors for OS and EFS; reduced-intensity conditioning, high/very high DRI, and haplo donor were nearly statistically significant for these outcomes. Grade II-IV acute GVHD was lower in MSD/MUD (14% versus 47%, P = .000). Cumulative incidences of grade III-IV acute GVHD (4% versus 9%, P = .14) and moderate-severe chronic GVHD (22% versus 19%, P = .28) were similar. Limitations of our study include limited sample size, differences between haplo and MSD/MUD groups and heterogeneous additional immunosuppression and PTCY timing in MSD/MUD. The use of an HLA-identical donor with PTCY in patients with AML showed lower incidence of clinically significant grade II-IV acute GVHD compared to haplo donors. Further studies with larger sample sizes should be performed to establish a possible benefit of HLA-identical donor on survival. © 2022 American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved., (Copyright © 2022 The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)