Supportive care for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell patients

The purpose of this review is to provide clear guidance to health professionals delivering chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy on the best supportive management throughout the CAR-T pathway, from referral to long-term follow-up, including psychosocial aspects.

CAR-T therapy has changed the treatment landscape for relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell malignancy. Approximately 40% of r/r B-cell leukaemia/lymphoma patients receiving CD19-targeted CAR-T therapy achieve durable remission following a single dose. The field is rapidly expanding to encompass new CAR-T products for indications such as multiple myeloma, mantle cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma, and the number of patients eligible to receive CAR-T therapy is likely to continue to grow exponentially. CAR-T therapy is logistically challenging to deliver, with involvement of many stakeholders. In many cases, CAR-T therapy requires an extended inpatient hospital admission, particularly in older, comorbid patients, and is associated with potentially severe immune side effects. Further, CAR-T therapy can lead to protracted cytopenias that can last for several months accompanied by a susceptibility to infection.

For the reasons listed above, standardised, comprehensive supportive care is critically important to ensure that CAR-T therapy is delivered as safely as possible and that patients are fully informed of the risks and benefits, as well as the requirement for extended hospital admission and follow-up, to fully realise the potential of this transformative treatment modality.