Gut Microbiome Influences How Lymphoma Patients Respond to CAR T Therapy

In a new study published in Nature Medicine, Moffitt Cancer Center physician-scientists, in collaboration with four cancer centers in the United States and Germany, reveal how microorganisms in the gut influence non-Hodgkin lymphoma patient outcomes to a type of cellular immunotherapy called chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR T.

Emily Whitehead, First Pediatric Patient to Receive CAR T-Cell Therapy, Celebrates Cure 10 Years Later

Ten years ago, Tom and Kari Whitehead came to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) looking for a miracle. Their 6-year-old daughter, Emily, had relapsed in her battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), after many months of unsuccessful chemotherapy and a disease that had progressed so rapidly that she was ineligible for a bone marrow transplant to treat it. Her family came to CHOP in the hopes that Dr. Stephan Grupp, a pioneer in the field of cellular immunotherapy, could provide the miracle they were looking for.

CAR T-cell therapy found highly effective in patients with high-risk non-Hodgkin lymphoma

A CAR T-cell therapy known as axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) drove cancer cells to undetectable levels in nearly 80% of patients with advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in a phase 2 clinical trial, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators report at the virtual 62nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting.

Moffitt Researchers Create Chimeric Antigen Receptor Mutations to Enhance CAR T Cell Activity and Survival

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are working to improve CAR T responses and make those responses more long-lasting for patients. In a new article published in Cancer Immunology Research, the team shares its findings, which show alterations to a specific domain of the chimeric antigen receptor enhances CAR T-cell activity and survival.

NCCN: What People with Cancer and their Caregivers Need to Know about CAR T-Cell Therapy

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has published a new NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Immunotherapy Side Effects focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. This is book two in a series that includes another book on irAEs focused on immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Moffitt Cancer Center Study Suggests More Could Benefit from CAR T-Cell Therapy

Moffitt Cancer Center organized a consortium of 16 cancer treatment facilities across the U.S. that offer Yescarta as a standard-of-care therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory large B cell lymphoma. They wanted to determine if the safety and effectiveness seen in the ZUMA-1 clinical trial were similar for patients treated with the now commercially available CAR T therapy. Their findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.