Cellular Immunotherapy Highlights from ASCO

Moffitt’s physicians and scientists were proud to share and present their cellular immunotherapy research findings at American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO 2022)

Two-year follow-up of KTE-X19, an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, in adult patients (Pts) with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (R/R B-ALL) in ZUMA-3.

Dr. Bijal Shah presented Brexucabtagene autoleucel (KTE-X19) is an autologous anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy approved in the US to treat adult R/R B-ALL based on the ZUMA-3 study. The overall complete remission (CR) rate (CR + CR with incomplete hematologic recovery [CRi]) was 71% (95% CI, 57-82) after 16.4 mo median follow-up (N = 55; Shah et al. Lancet 2021). Here, we report updated outcomes with longer follow-up in these pts and in a larger pooled analysis of Phase (Ph) 1 and 2 pts who received the pivotal dose of KTE-X19.

Idecabtagene vicleucel (Ide-cel) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): Real-world experience.

Dr. Doris Hansen discusses that Ide-cel, a BCMA directed CAR T-cell therapy, was FDA approved 3/26/2021 for the treatment of RRMM after 4 prior lines of therapy. We evaluated the real-world outcomes of patients treated with standard of care ide-cel under the commercial FDA label.

CRC-403: A phase 1/2 study of bbT369, a dual targeting CAR T-cell drug product with a gene edit, in relapsed and/or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

Dr. Frederick Locke presented that Although CD19 directed CAR T cell therapies have improved outcomes for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients, only about 30-40% of 3L+ patients obtain long term remission after this treatment (Neelapu et al. 2017; Schuster et al. 2019). bbT369, a next generation, dual targeted (CD79a/CD20), gene edited (CBLB gene knock out) autologous CAR T cell therapy was devised to overcome hypothesized mechanisms of CD19 CAR T cell treatment failure including loss/downregulation of target antigen, loss of co-stimulation pathways on tumor cells, exhaustion of CAR T cells, and CAR T cell dysfunction due to an immunosuppressive microenvironment (Shah and Fry 2019). bbT369 uses an OR gated design to limit antigen escape and contains split costimulatory domains (CD28 and 41BB) to enhance T cell activation.

Association of pretreatment (preTx) tumor characteristics and clinical outcomes following second-line (2L) axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) versus standard of care (SOC) in patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory (R/R) large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL).

Dr. Frederick Locke talks about The Phase 3 randomized ZUMA-7 trial in 2L R/R LBCL showed axi-cel superiority to SOC (salvage chemotherapy and HDT-ASCT) in event-free survival (EFS; hazard ratio [HR], 0.398; P<.0001; Locke et al. N Eng J Med. 2021). We report results of exploratory analyses of tumor characteristics, including preTx tumor burden (TB), tissue hypoxia-related lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, and tumor microenvironment (TME)

Predictors of immunotherapeutic benefits in patients with advanced melanoma and other malignancies treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors utilizing ORIEN “real-world” data.

Dr. Ahmed Tarhini explains that despite the significant improvements in treating cancer with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), many patients (pts) do not achieve disease control. Using Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) Avatar real-world data conducted under the Total Cancer Care protocol we investigate predictive biomarkers of ICI benefits in pts with advanced malignancies.

A deep learning approach utilizing clinical and molecular data for identifying prognostic biomarkers in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: An ORIEN pan-cancer study.

Dr. Payman Ghasemi presented how Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have made significant improvements in the treatment of cancer patients (pts), but many continue to experience primary or secondary resistance. Here, we leveraged clinical and genomic data to identify prognostic biomarkers in pts treated with ICIs utilizing a pan-cancer approach.

If you’d like to refer a patient to Moffitt, complete our online form or contact a physician liaison for assistance. As part of our efforts to shorten referral times as much as possible, online referrals are typically responded to within 24 - 48 hours.