Dr. Kahl on the Potential of CAR T-Cell Therapy in MCL

Brad Kahl, MD, professor in the Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Siteman Cancer Center, discusses the potential of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

There is a lot of potential for CAR T cells in MCL, explains Kahl. MCL is not yet a curable disease, so eventually all patients will relapse and require subsequent lines of therapy. Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) and acalabrutinib (Calquence) are very effective, but they have a finite impact on response. Physicians need additional agents to combat these relapses.

Kahl is hopeful that CAR T-cell therapy will be a great option for these patients. There are not enough data to conclude that CAR T cells will have a significant impact on the treatment paradigm, but it seems to be a very promising treatment strategy, states Kahl. Physicians are anticipating more data within the next 1 or 2 years in patients with MCL.