In a nutshell
The authors looked at the side effects and outcomes of the experimental treatment CAR-T biological therapy in the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma. The authors concluded that CAR-T treatment is safe and can be beneficial for some patients.
Some background
Many new treatments are being developed to treat patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). One new treatment is the use of modified T-cells. T-cells are a type of white blood cell involved in immunity and fighting diseases. T-cells have receptors on the outside of the cell that they use to recognize other cells. These receptors can sense which cells belong to the body (self) and which cells are foreign. The T-cells then signal for the foreign cells to be attacked.
T-cells can be modified to detect different proteins on the surface of other cells. One of these proteins is CD30. CD30 is common on HL cells, but rare on normal body cells. This modification is done with the addition of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to the T-cells. This treatment is known as CAR-T therapy. CAR-T therapy is given after several previous treatments have failed. The treatment is still new and experimental, so much more research is needed.
Methods & findings
CAR-T therapy targeting CD30 proteins (CD30.CAR-T) was administered to 9 patients. All patients had the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). 6 patients had HL. All patients had relapsed after 3 or more chemotherapy treatments. All patients except 1 had active disease at the time of CAR-T treatment. 2 HL patients received one dose of CD30.CAR-T. 4 HL patients received 2 doses of CD30.CAR-T.
Two patients achieved complete response and 1 patient had a continued complete response (no detectable disease). One of these patients had HL. Three other patients had stable disease after treatment (no progression). All three patients had HL. The remaining 3 patients had no response to the treatment. Two of these patients had HL.
No short term side effects were associated with CD30.CAR-T treatment. No long term toxicities were observed.
The bottom line
The study concluded that CD30.CAR-T therapy is safe and can benefit patients with relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma.
The fine print
This was a very small study exploring the possibility of this treatment (also under investigation in other forms of lymphoma and leukemia) in Hodgkin lymphoma. Further, larger studies are needed.
Published By :
The Journal of Clinical Investigation
Date :
Aug 14, 2017
