Background
Several reports have indicated that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy following autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is a promising strategy for refractory/relapsed (r/r) central nervous system lymphoma (CNSL), but the number of reported cases is limited.
Methods
The cohort in this retrospective study consisted of 38 patients with r/r CNSL who received CAR T-cell therapy following ASCT at our center between January 2019 and April 2024. Group comparisons of continuous variables were tested using the unpaired Student’s t-test or the Mann–Whitney U-test, while categorical variables were analyzed using Fisher's exact test. The Kaplan–Meier method was employed to estimate survival curves, and group comparisons were performed using the log-rank test.
Results
The cohort comprised 38 patients with r/r CNSL, all of whom had active CNS involvement. After therapy, the best overall response rate (ORR) of all patients was 78.9%. Subgroup analysis found that a lower ORR was observed in patients with lactate dehydrogenase levels above the upper limit of normal (60.0% vs. 91.3%,
P
= 0.039). With a median follow-up of 37.5 months, the estimated 1-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 72.8% and 57.4%, respectively. The risk factors associated with PFS was no response to current therapy (adjusted hazard ratio: 22.87,
P
< 0.001). The incidence rates of severe cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome were both 13.2%. Among the 25 patients with secondary CNSL (SCNSL), the best ORRs were 91.7% for those with CNS lesions only and 61.5% for those with CNS and systemic lesions (
P
= 0.160), while the estimated 1-year PFS rates were 83.3% and 38.5%, respectively (
P
= 0.030).
Conclusions
CAR T-cell therapy following ASCT shows promising efficacy for r/r CNSL patients. Besides, SCNSL patients with CNS and systemic lesions have inferior treatment efficacy compared to those with CNS lesions only.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1007/s00262-024-03855-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.