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Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

  • Leukemia (PH Wiernik, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Chimeric receptor antigen (CAR) T cells are an innovative cellular immunotherapeutic approach that involves genetic modification of T cells to express CAR targeting tumor antigen. Prior to the development of CAR-T, the only potential cure for patients with relapsed or refractory (RR) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Several CAR-T cell products have been studied in prospective clinical trials which ultimately have resulted in the approval of one anti-CD19 CAR-T cell product in pediatric RR ALL: tisagenlecleucel (CD3ζ and 41BB). While some patients achieve durable responses with CAR-T, lack of response and relapse remains clinical challenges. Reasons for sub-optimal response include lack of CAR-T cell persistence and target antigen down-regulation. Future CARs are under development to improve long-term persistence and to be able to overcome resistance mechanisms associated with the disease and the hostile tumor microenvironment. With evolving understanding about CARs and new constructs under investigation, there is optimism that future products will improve the safety and efficacy from the current standard of care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology and Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, 9200 W. Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA

    Talha Badar MD & Nirav N. Shah MD, MSHP

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  1. Talha Badar MD
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  2. Nirav N. Shah MD, MSHP
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Correspondence to Nirav N. Shah MD, MSHP.

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Talha Badar declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Nirav N. Shah has received honoraria and/or travel support from Incyte, Celgene, and Miltenyi Biotec; has served on scientific advisory boards for Kite, Celgene, and Cellectar Biosciences; and has received institutional research support for clinical trials from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Miltenyi Biotec.

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Badar, T., Shah, N.N. Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Curr. Treat. Options in Oncol. 21, 16 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-020-0706-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11864-020-0706-6

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