Dr. Wang on the Efficacy of KTE-X19 in Low- and High-Risk R/R MCL

Michael Wang, MD, a professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the efficacy of KTE-X19 in low- and high-risk patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) as part of the phase 2 ZUMA-2 trial.

The peak levels of the AUC of CAR T-cells in the blood were comparable in patients with a wild type versus mutated TP53, says Wang. Investigators found that in low- and high-risk patients, peak levels and AUC of CAR T cells in the blood are the same. When CAR T cells are infused into the blood, the CAR T will proliferate and expand to 6 million cells. The more the CAR T-cells expand, the better the efficacy; however, the toxicity increases, as well. Those findings were demonstrated in the primary analysis, says Wang.

In the analysis presented during the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program, investigators wanted to determine whether the CAR T-cell expansion would be similar between low- and high-risk groups, and they found it was. Now, underlying correlative data that correspond with the observation that low- and high-risk patients experience the same benefit with this modality are available, says Wang. These findings suggest that KTE-X19 can potentially overcome the high risk of resistance, concludes Wang.