Lymphomas can begin in the brain or spinal cord, or tumors can spread to these sites after originating in other parts of the body. Researchers knew that CAR-T cells could access the brain from previous research, but the neurological toxicities that can occur during treatment raised concerns about deploying the therapy against central nervous system (CNS) targets. For this reason, the team embarked on a pilot clinical trial to evaluate the safety of axi-cel for primary and secondary CNS lymphoma. Results from 9 patients enrolled in the first cohort will be reported to the American Society of Hematology. To date, all patients have received axi-cel treatment and are at least 1 month post-treatment. 78% of patients had their tumors shrink or disappear with treatment, and 67% of patients showed a complete response, in which their tumors disappeared. The duration of these responses was 10 months. The median progression-free survival was nearly one year and the median overall survival was 19 months. Although further clinical study is needed, the data suggest that axi-cel provides responses that are potentially more durable than current treatments for CNS lymphoma.
