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Background: Immunocompromised patients are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Patients undergoing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory B-cell malignancies are uniquely immunosuppressed due to CAR T-mediated B-cell aplasia (BCA). While SARS-CoV-2 mortality rates of 33%-40% are reported in adult CAR T-cell recipients, outcomes in pediatric and young adult CAR T-cell recipients are limited., Methods: We created an international retrospective registry of CAR T recipients aged 0-30 years infected with SARS-CoV-2 within 2 months prior to or any time after CAR T infusion. SARS-CoV-2-associated illness was graded as asymptomatic, mild, moderate, or severe COVID-19, or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). To assess for risk factors associated with significant SARS-CoV-2 infections (infections requiring hospital admission for respiratory distress or supplemental oxygen), univariate and multivariable regression analyses were performed., Results: Nine centers contributed 78 infections in 75 patients. Of 70 SARS-CoV-2 infections occurring after CAR T infusion, 13 (18.6%) were classified as asymptomatic, 37 (52.9%) mild, 11 (15.7%) moderate, and 6 (8.6%) severe COVID-19. Three (4.3%) were classified as MIS-C. BCA was not significantly associated with infection severity. Prior to the emergence of the Omicron variant, of 47 infections, 19 (40.4%) resulted in hospital admission and 7 (14.9%) required intensive care, while after the emergence of the Omicron variant, of 23 infections, only 1 (4.3%) required admission and the remaining 22 (95.7%) had asymptomatic or mild COVID-19. Death occurred in 3 of 70 (4.3%); each death involved coinfection or life-threatening condition. In a multivariable model, factors associated with significant SARS-CoV-2 infection included having two or more comorbidities (OR 7.73, CI 1.05 to 74.8, p=0.048) and age ≥18 years (OR 9.51, CI 1.90 to 82.2, p=0.014). In the eight patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 before CAR T, half of these patients had their CAR T infusion delayed by 15-30 days., Conclusions: In a large international cohort of pediatric and young adult CAR-T recipients, SARS-CoV-2 infections resulted in frequent hospital and intensive care unit admissions and were associated with mortality in 4.3%. Patients with two or more comorbidities or aged ≥18 years were more likely to experience significant illness. Suspected Omicron infections were associated with milder disease., Competing Interests: Competing interests: AB: Novartis, Amgen and Medac, speaker’s bureau; Medac, Neovii and Novartis meeting support. SLM: Novartis, advisory boards, study steering committees, clinical trial support; Wugen: advisory board., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Tisagenlecleucel, an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, has demonstrated efficacy in children and young adults with relapsed/refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) in two multicenter phase 2 trials (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02435849 (ELIANA) and NCT02228096 (ENSIGN)), leading to commercialization of tisagenlecleucel for the treatment of patients up to age 25 years with B-ALL that is refractory or in second or greater relapse., Methods: A pooled analysis of 137 patients from these trials (ELIANA: n=79; ENSIGN: n=58) was performed to provide a comprehensive safety profile for tisagenlecleucel., Results: Grade 3/4 tisagenlecleucel-related adverse events (AEs) were reported in 77% of patients. Specific AEs of interest that occurred ≤8 weeks postinfusion included cytokine-release syndrome (CRS; 79% (grade 4: 22%)), infections (42%; grade 3/4: 19%), prolonged (not resolved by day 28) cytopenias (40%; grade 3/4: 34%), neurologic events (36%; grade 3: 10%; no grade 4 events), and tumor lysis syndrome (4%; all grade 3). Treatment for CRS included tocilizumab (40%) and corticosteroids (23%). The frequency of neurologic events increased with CRS severity (p<0.001). Median time to resolution of grade 3/4 cytopenias to grade ≤2 was 2.0 (95% CI 1.87 to 2.23) months for neutropenia, 2.4 (95% CI 1.97 to 3.68) months for lymphopenia, 2.0 (95% CI 1.87 to 2.27) months for leukopenia, 1.9 (95% CI 1.74 to 2.10) months for thrombocytopenia, and 1.0 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.87) month for anemia. All patients who achieved complete remission (CR)/CR with incomplete hematologic recovery experienced B cell aplasia; however, as nearly all responders also received immunoglobulin replacement, few grade 3/4 infections occurred >1 year postinfusion., Conclusions: This pooled analysis provides a detailed safety profile for tisagenlecleucel during the course of clinical trials, and AE management guidance, with a longer follow-up duration compared with previous reports., Competing Interests: Competing interests: JEL has received research and/or clinical trial support from Incyte, Kamada, Mesoblast, and Biogen and has participated in consulting, study steering committees, or scientific/clinical advisory boards for Novartis, bluebird bio, Incyte, Ironwood, Mesoblast, Omeros, Oncoimmune, Talaris, and X4 Pharmaceuticals. SAG has received research and/or clinical trial support from Novartis, Servier, and Kite and has participated in consulting, study steering committees, or scientific/clinical advisory boards for Novartis, Cellectis, Adaptimmune, Eureka, TCR2, Juno, GlaxoSmithKline, Vertex, Cure Genetics, Humanigen, and Roche. MAP has participated in steering committees for the ENSIGN and ELIANA trials for Novartis, advisory boards, and educational activities for Novartis. ACD is a current employee of bluebird bio; bluebird bio has had no support or oversight of this research or manuscript. SR has received clinical trial support from Novartis, Servier, and Celgene and has participated in consulting, study steering committees, or scientific/clinical advisory boards for Novartis, Servier, Celgene, Cellectis, Kite/Bristol-Myers Squibb, JazzPharma, and Amgen. GDM has received payment and honoraria as a consultant to Novartis Pharma and for serving on the speaker’s bureau for Kymriah. KJA has participated in a speaker bureau and received travel accommodations and expenses from Novartis. MRV has participated in advisory boards for Novartis, Fate Therapeutics, and B-Mogen and has stock options from Fate Therapeutics and B-Mogen. JB has participated in study steering committees, advisory boards, and educational activities for Novartis, and advisory boards for Kite and Janssen. TWL has consulted for Novartis, Cellectis, Loxo Oncology, Eli Lilly, and Bayer; has received research funding from Novartis, Pfizer, and Bayer; and is currently affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA and the Division of Oncology, Center for Childhood Cancer Research and Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. HB has participated in consulting for Novartis and Jazz Pharmaceuticals and his department has received financial reimbursement for participation in tisagenlecleucel trials for Novartis. AB has received research and/or clinical trial support from Novartis, Servier, and Kite and participated in consulting, study steering committees, or scientific/clinical advisory boards for Novartis, Servier, Celgene, Jazz Pharma, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Amgen. MWB has participated in advisory boards for Novartis and Thunder Biotech. BDM has received a travel grant from Jazz Pharma; her department has received financial reimbursement and compensation for participation in CTL019 trials for Novartis, and consulting for Novartis. MQ has received support for service on clinical advisory boards for Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb. SMD has received research support from Alexion Pharmaceuticals and served in a consulting role for Novartis. CLP has received support for service on clinical advisory board for Novartis.TAD has no conflicts to declare. PB has received institutional research grants from medac, Riemser, and Neovii and institutional compensation for advisory activity and speakers bureau from Miltenyi, Amgen, Novartis, Servier, medac, and Riemser. KS has no conflicts to declare. PAW was an employee of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, New Jersey, USA. RM has no conflicts to declare. LY is an employee of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, New Jersey, USA. ML is an employee of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, New Jersey, USA. LKE is an employee of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, New Jersey, USA. CHJ has received research support from Novartis and Tmunity Therapeutics. SLM has received clinical trial support from Novartis and has served in a consulting role, on advisory boards, or on study steering committees for Novartis, Kite, and Wugen., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Immune effector cell (IEC) therapies offer durable and sustained remissions in significant numbers of patients with hematological cancers. While these unique immunotherapies have improved outcomes for pediatric and adult patients in a number of disease states, as 'living drugs,' their toxicity profiles, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS), differ markedly from conventional cancer therapeutics. At the time of article preparation, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved tisagenlecleucel, axicabtagene ciloleucel, and brexucabtagene autoleucel, all of which are IEC therapies based on genetically modified T cells engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), and additional products are expected to reach marketing authorization soon and to enter clinical development in due course. As IEC therapies, especially CAR T cell therapies, enter more widespread clinical use, there is a need for clear, cohesive recommendations on toxicity management, motivating the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) to convene an expert panel to develop a clinical practice guideline. The panel discussed the recognition and management of common toxicities in the context of IEC treatment, including baseline laboratory parameters for monitoring, timing to onset, and pharmacological interventions, ultimately forming evidence- and consensus-based recommendations to assist medical professionals in decision-making and to improve outcomes for patients., Competing Interests: Competing interests: CC─Consultant and/or advisory board: Novartis. MLD─Consultant and/or advisory board: Celyad, Novartis; Research/license support: Atara, Celgene; Stock option: Adaptive Biotechnologies, Precision Bioscience. CD─ Consultant and/or advisory board: Evidera, Juno. JD─Consultant and/or advisory board: Unum Therapeutics, Blue Earth Diagnostics; Royalties: Wolters Kluwer. JCF─NIDDK 23 grant. MJF─Consultant and/or advisory board: Arcelex, Celgene, Nkarta, Novartis, Xenetic Bio. JLH-C─At-large board member: ASTCT; Vice Chair: Government affairs, Task force member on Immunotherapies and Palliative Care, ASH; Co-Primary Investigator: Imaging trial haplo/cord, graft failure NHLBI RO1 grant. SAG─Consultant and/or advisory board: Adaptimmune, Allogene, Cellectis, Eureka, GlaxoSmithKline, Humanigen, J&J/Janssen, Juno, Novartis, Roche, TCR2, Vertex/CRISPR Therapeutics; Grant/research support: Kite Gilead, Novartis, Servier, Vertex. KVK─Consultant or SAB: Kite/Gilead, Autolus, Juno/BMS, Celgene, Novartis, Takeda, Kiadis, Incyte, Atara, Legend, Kadmon, Helocyte; Clinical trials support (institutional): Kite/Gilead, Novartis, Atara, Allogene; Nonprofit organizations: National Marrow Donor Program (Board of Directors), ASTCT (Chair, cell therapy committee). DWL─Owner: Immchase, LLC; Consultant and/or advisory board: ACI Clinical (on behalf of Celgene), Harpoon Therapeutics, Juno Therapeutics. FLL─Scientific advisor: Kite/Gilead, Novartis, BMS/Celgene, Allogene, Wugen, Calibr, Gamma Delta Therapeutics; Consultant: Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc; Research support: Kite/Gilead. SLM─Consultant and/or advisory board: Kite, Novartis. MVM─Consultant and/or advisory board: Adaptimmune, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Argentus, BD Sciences, Bluebird Bio, Cell Signaling, Collectis (SAB), CRISPR Therapeutics, EMD Serono, Inysus, Kite, Juno, MPM, Novartis, Takeda, TCR2 (SAB), Third Rock Ventures, WindMIL (SAB); Grant/research support: CRISPR Therapeutics, Kite Gilead. PLM─Consultant and/or advisory board: BlueBird Biotech, BMS, Celgene, Fate Therapeutics, Janssen, Juno, Karyopharm, Magenta Therapeutics, MedScape, Sanofi, Takeda. SSN─Consultant and/or advisory board: Celgene, Cell Medica, Incyte, Kite/Gilead, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Precision Biosciences, Unum Therapeutics; Grant/research support: Acerta, BMS, Collectis, Karus, Kite Gilead, Merck, Poseida, Unum Therapeutics. TGN─Consultant on imaging: Parexel, Intrinsic Imaging; SAB on Checkpoint and Myocarditis: BMS; Consultant: H3 Biomedicine, Aprea Therapeutics. BDS─Consultant and/or advisory board: Kite Gilead, Juno/Celgene, Insysus, Novartis, Janssen; Grant/research support: ADC Therapeutics. EJS─Consultant and/or advisory board: Adaptimmune, Cellgene, Magenta, Novartis, Partner Therapeutics. DTT─Advisory board: La Roche, Amgen, Janssen, Novartis. CJT─Consultant and/or advisory board: Aptevo, Arsenal Bio, AstraZeneca, Caribou Biosciences, Century Therapeutics, Eureka Therapeutics, Humanigen, Juno/BMS, Kite/Gilead, Myeloid Therapeutics, Nektar Therapeutics, Novartis, Precision Biosciences, T-CURX; Stock options: Precision Biosciences, Eureka Therapeutics, Caribou Biosciences, Arsenal Bio, Myeloid Therapeutics; Grant/research support: Juno/BMS, Nektar Therapeutics, AstraZeneca. SA, MRB, JNB, TJF, EM, and TW─Nothing to disclose. SITC staff: AK, BL, LL and SMW─Nothing to disclose., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)