Real-World Experience of Axicabtagene Ciloleucel and Tisagenlecleucel for Relapsed or Refractory Aggressive B-cell Lymphomas: A Single-Institution Experience

CD19-directed chimeric antigen T-cell receptor (CAR-T) therapies have revolutionized the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) aggressive B-cell lymphomas (aBCL). The results of the landmark ZUMA-1 and JULIET trials have been reproducible in real-world settings across multiple institutions, and patients with double (DHL) or triple (THL) hit lymphomas have demonstrated non-inferior outcomes compared to non-DHL/THL counterparts.

This retrospective cohort study included 53 patients with R/R aBCL who received CAR-T from October 2017 to June 2020 at the University of California, Los Angeles. Patient characteristics, lymphoma-related variables and outcomes of interest were summarized using descriptive statistics and compared between groups by Fisher's exact test. Kaplan-Meier methods were used for analysis of OS, progression free survival (PFS), and duration of response (DOR). Univariate and multivariate cox regression analysis were performed to evaluate for significant prognostic variables.

With a median follow-up of 15.2 months, this cohort demonstrated overall response rate and complete response rate of 72% and 64% (n = 34), respectively. The median DOR, PFS and OS were not reached, 7.9 and 17.7 months, respectively. By univariate analysis, DHL/THL status was the only clinical feature significantly associated with relapse post-CAR-T (OR 5.9, P = .015).

Our single-institution, real-world cohort of R/R aBCL patients demonstrated similar efficacy outcomes to those of the ZUMA-1 and JULIET trials and published real-world studies. Our findings suggest DHL/THL patients may benefit from novel CAR-T constructs, maintenance strategies with immunomodulatory agents or allogeneic-HCT.