Aimee C. Talleur, MD, on the Challenge of Evaluating Late Effects from CAR-T in Pediatric Patients

“Really the goal of what we're trying to do is come together as a community and really develop multiinstitutional efforts so that we can learn as much as we can from every patient that's come through CAR T-cell therapy and really help to develop better guidelines on how to monitor patients afterwards...”

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy is a relatively new modality for the treatment of pediatric patients with cancer. In fact, the first child to receive CAR-T therapy was treated just about 12 years ago. As such, any current evaluation of the long-term impact of this type of therapy in children is inherently limited right out of the gate. Furthermore, all CAR-T therapy products currently approved by the FDA are indicated for patients with relapsed/refractory disease, sometimes with stipulations for having received a specific minimum amount of prior lines of therapy. As a result of this, many patients receiving CAR-T have already undergone numerous standard of care treatment options, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, all of which come with their own potential long-term adverse impact on patients’ health. This further complicates evaluating long-term impacts of CAR-T in children, as it can be very difficult for investigators to pinpoint whether a late-appearing adverse event observed in a patient is related to CAR-T or one of the other treatments they previously received.

Aimee C. Talleur, MD, a physician at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, gave a talk on efforts to overcome these challenges entitled “CAR T-cells and late-effects, including secondary malignancies” at the 2024 Tandem Meetings |Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR, held in San Antonio, Texas, February 21-24, 2024. In an interview with CGTLive® on the conference floor, Talleur discussed the key points of her talk and the main takeaways for the healthcare community. She emphasized the importance of input and involvement from patients, their families, and advocates for research focused on teasing out potential late effects of CAR-T therapies.

REFERENCES
1. Talleur AC. CAR T-cells and late-effects, including secondary malignancies. Presented at: 2024 Tandem Meetings, February 21-24, San Antonio, Texas.