Dr. Gajra on Adverse Effects Associated With CAR T-Cell Therapy in Hematologic Malignancies

Ajeet Gajra, MD, FACP, clinical professor of medicine, Upstate University Hospital, discusses adverse effects associated with CAR T-cell therapy in hematologic malignancies.

CAR T-cell therapy has garnered a lot of excitement in the hematologic malignancies space and continues to be introduced to new diseases, says Gajra. For example, on July 24, 2020, brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus) received regulatory approval for patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma.

However, despite the encouraging data seen thus far, these products can cause toxicities such as cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome.

Ultimately, additional research will assist in better defining the risk factors for these toxicities as well as developing safer products with less toxicities, Gajra concludes.