Eligibility for CAR T‐cell therapy: An analysis of selection criteria and survival outcomes in chemorefractory DLBCL

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapy with axicabtagene ciloleucel, approved for chemorefractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, showed promising efficacy in the ZUMA-1 trial. However, eligibility criteria for ZUMA-1 was stringent. Applying these criteria to a cohort of DLBCL patients at our center led to 58% deemed ineligible for ZUMA-1; ineligible patients survived a median of 7 months compared to 19 months for eligible patients. Most common exclusionary features included need for urgent therapy, underlying histology of transformed DLBCL, and poor performance status. The impact of patient selection and eligibility criteria in Car T-cell trials for DLBCL warrant further consideration. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.