Long-Term Follow-Up of Bridging Therapies Prior to CAR T-Cell Therapy for Relapsed/Refractory Large B Cell Lymphoma

Bridging therapy (BT) with systemic therapy (ST), radiation therapy (RT), or combined-modality therapy (CMT) is increasingly being utilized prior to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL). We report the long-term outcomes of the patients who received commercial CAR T-cell therapy with or without BT.

The patients with LBCL who underwent infusion of a commercial CD19 CAR T product were eligible. The radiation was stratified as comprehensive or focal. The efficacy outcomes and toxicity were analyzed.

In total, 156 patients were included and, of them, 52.5% of the patients received BT. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 0.65 years in the BT cohort compared to 1.45 years in the non-BT cohort. The median overall survival (OS) was 3.16 years in the BT cohort and was not reached in the non-BT cohort. The patients who received comprehensive radiation (versus focal) had significantly improved PFS and OS, achieving a 1-year PFS of 100% vs. 9.1% and 1-year OS of 100% vs. 45.5%. There was no difference in the severe toxicity between any of the nonbridging or BT cohorts.

BT did not appear to compromise outcomes with respect to response rates, disease control, survival, and toxicity. The patients with limited disease treated with RT had favorable outcomes.