Dr. Jae Park on Impact of Disease Burden on CAR T-Cells in Relapsed B-ALL

Jae Park, MD, Hematologic Oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the impact that disease burden plays on how adult patients with relapsed precursor B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) respond to cd19-targeted CAR modified T-cells.

Heavily pretreated B-ALL patients have demonstrated a remarkable response rate of 80% with cd19-targeted CAR modified T-cells, says Park. Disease burden does not impact how well the CAR-T cells work.

However, the side effects of CAR T- cells do differ depending on disease burden. The more disease a patient has, the more likely they are to experience toxicities, says Park.

The role of a bone marrow transplant for patients that have received CAR-T cells is also being investigated, says Park.

While the results are not definitive, researchers have found that patients with either low or high disease burden who have receive CAR-T cells and achieved a good remission do not appear to benefit form a bone marrow transplant, says Park.

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