Patients with and without preexisting autoimmune or inflammatory disease show similar safety and cancer outcomes after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for cancer.
"These findings provide reassurance around the safety of CAR T-cell therapy for patients with cancer with autoimmune or inflammatory diseases and inform ongoing prospective studies of CAR T-cell therapy to treat these patients," the authors wrote.
This study was led by Kathleen M.M. Vanni, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. It was published online on January 28, 2025, in The Lancet Rheumatology.
The preexisting autoimmune or inflammatory disease group included many heterogeneous diseases with a small sample size for specific conditions. Only a few patients had ongoing autoimmune or inflammatory disease during CAR T-cell therapy. Different CD19-targeted CAR T-cell products might yield varying results. This retrospective study lacked validated measures of autoimmune disease activity, and the single-center design may limit generalizability.
Several authors received support from multiple organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, Rheumatology Research Foundation, and National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, among others. Many authors reported having financial ties with several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.