Dr. Hill on the Role of CAR T-Cell Therapy in Relapsed/Refractory DLBCL

Brian T. Hill, MD, PhD, director of the Lymphoid Malignancies Program and staff physician, Taussig Cancer Institute, and assistant professor, Hematology and Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, discusses the role of CAR T-cell therapy in relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

In October 2017, ​the FDA approved axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) for the treatment of adult patients with certain types of large B-cell lymphoma, including DLBCL, who have not responded to or who have relapsed after 2 or more treatments. Additionally, in May 2018, another CAR T-cell therapy product, tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) was approved in a similar indication.  

Prior to these approval​s, therapeutic options were limited for patients who relapsed after autologous stem cell transplantor were ineligible for transplant.

However, the rate of durable remission is limited to 40% to 50% ​of patients with relapsed/refractory DLBCL. As such, there is a significant need to develop additional therapies ​in this space, Hill concludes.