(1) Background: Despite the prognostic improvements achieved with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a minority of patients still fail TKIs. The recent introduction of asciminib may be a promising option in intolerant patients, as it is a first-in-class inhibitor with a more selective mechanism of action different from the ATP-competitive inhibition that occurs with TKIs. Therefore, our goal was to analyze toxicities shown with asciminib as well as to study cross-toxicity with previous TKIs. (2) Methods: An observational, multicenter, retrospective study was performed with data from 77 patients with CML with therapeutic failure to second-generation TKIs who received asciminib through a managed-access program (MAP) (3) Results: With a median follow-up of 13.7 months, 22 patients (28.5%) discontinued treatment: 32% (7/22) due to intolerance and 45% (10/22) due to resistance. Fifty-five percent of the patients reported adverse effects (AEs) with asciminib and eighteen percent grade 3–4. Most frequent AEs were: fatigue (18%), thrombocytopenia (17%), anemia (12%), and arthralgias (12%). None of the patients experienced cardiovascular events or occlusive arterial disease. Further, 26%, 25%, and 9% of patients required dose adjustment, temporary suspension, or definitive discontinuation of treatment, respectively. Toxicities under asciminib seemed lower than with prior TKIs for anemia, cardiovascular events, pleural/pericardial effusion, diarrhea, and edema. Cross-toxicity risk was statistically significant for thrombocytopenia, anemia, neutropenia, fatigue, vomiting, and pancreatitis. (4) Conclusion: Asciminib is a molecule with a good safety profile and with a low rate of AEs. However, despite its new mechanism of action, asciminib presents a risk of cross-toxicity with classical TKIs for some AEs.

Lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel) is an autologous CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma. We present a multicenter retrospective study evaluating safety, efficacy, and resource use of liso-cel in the standard-of-care setting. Patients received commercial liso-cel at 7 US medical centers, and patient selection, toxicity management, and disease assessment followed institutional practices. Among 101 patients who received infusion, the median age was 71 years (35% aged ≥75 years), 68% had a Charlson comorbidity index score of ≥3, and 10% had secondary central nervous system involvement. Median number of prior therapies was 3; and because of comorbidities, 33% would have been ineligible for the TRANSCEND study. Bridging therapy was used in 60% (43% received polatuzumab-based treatment). Any-grade cytokine-release syndrome occurred in 49% (3% grade ≥3) with any-grade immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome occurring in 26% (10% grade ≥3). The overall response rate (ORR) to bridging therapy was 45%, with 18% achieving a complete response (CR). Following liso-cel infusion, the day 90 ORR was 66% (60% CR); and with a median follow-up of 15.5 months, 12-month progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 55% and 68%, respectively. A normal lactate dehydrogenase level before lymphodepletion was associated with improved PFS and OS. These analyses confirm similar efficacy and safety of commercial liso-cel compared with pivotal trial results. Notably, these outcomes were achieved in patients predominantly of advanced age and with significant comorbidities. Results also likely reflect advancements in patient selection, toxicity management, and the use of novel bridging strategies.

Although 3 commercial CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies are available for large B-cell lymphomas (LBCLs), no randomized clinical trials have compared their efficacy and safety. In this retrospective multicenter cohort study, we evaluated real-world clinical outcomes of patients with relapsed/refractory LBCL treated with axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel), tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel), or lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel). Between April 2016 and July 2024, 624 patients received CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapies (344 axi-cel, 142 tisa-cel, and 138 liso-cel). At a median follow-up of 20.9 months, the respective estimated 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 46% and 63% for axi-cel, 30% and 45% for tisa-cel, and 45% and 58% for liso-cel. After adjusting for potential confounders in multivariate analyses, tisa-cel was associated with inferior PFS and OS compared to axi-cel. No significant survival differences were found between liso-cel and axi-cel. Propensity score and subanalyses of patients treated in the second-line vs third-line or later settings yielded similar outcomes. Compared to axi-cel, the objective response rate at 100 days was higher for liso-cel and lower for tisa-cel. Rates of cytokine release syndrome, immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome, and immune effector cell–associated hematotoxicity, and febrile neutropenia were significantly higher with axi-cel. However, no significant differences in the cumulative incidence of infections or nonrelapse mortality were found. Axi-cel was associated with faster vein-to-vein time (axi-cel, 35 days; tisa-cel, 43 days; liso-cel, 41 days) and fewer out-of-specification products (axi-cel, 2%; tisa-cel, 4%; liso-cel, 11%). These results provide insights into potential differential outcomes depending on product selection.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy (CART) for central nervous system lymphoma (CNSL) is a promising strategy, yet responses are frequently not durable. Bridging radiotherapy (BRT) is used for extracranial lymphoma in which it can improve CART outcomes through cytoreduction of high-risk lesions. We hypothesized that BRT would achieve similar, significant cytoreduction before CART for CNSL (CNS-BRT). We identified patients with CNSL with non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma who received CNS-BRT before commercial CART. Cytoreduction from CNS-BRT was calculated as change in lesion size before CART. Twelve patients received CNS-BRT, and the median follow-up among survivors is 11.8 months (interquartile range, 8.5-21.9). Ten patients had CNSL (9 secondary, 1 primary) and 2 patients had epidural disease (evaluable for toxicity). All 10 patients with CNSL had progressive disease at the time of CNS-BRT. Of 12 patients, 1 experienced grade ≥3 cytokine release syndrome, and 3 of 12 patients experienced grade ≥3 immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome. CNS-BRT achieved a 74.0% (95% confidence interval, 62.0-86.0) mean reduction in lesion size from baseline (P = .014) at a median of 12 days from BRT completion and before CART infusion. Best CNS response included 8 complete responses, 1 partial response, and 1 progressive disease. Three patients experienced CNS relapse outside the BRT field. Preliminary data suggest CNS-BRT achieves rapid cytoreduction and is associated with a favorable CNS response and safety profile. These data support further study of BRT as a bridging modality for CNSL CART.

BCR-ABL is an aberrant tyrosine kinase responsible for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) induce a potent antileukemic response mostly based on the inhibition of BCR-ABL, but they also increase the activity of Natural Killer (NK) and CD8+ T cells. After several years, patients may interrupt treatment due to sustained, deep molecular response. By unknown reasons, half of the patients relapse during treatment interruption, whereas others maintain a potent control of the residual leukemic cells for several years. In this study, several immunological parameters related to sustained antileukemic control were analyzed. According to our results, the features more related to poor antileukemic control were as follows: low levels of cytotoxic cells such as NK, (Natural Killer T) NKT and CD8±TCRγβ+ T cells; low expression of activating receptors on the surface of NK and NKT cells; impaired synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines or proteases from NK cells; and HLA-E*0103 homozygosis and KIR haplotype BX. A Random Forest algorithm predicted 90% of the accuracy for the classification of CML patients in groups of relapse or non-relapse according to these parameters. Consequently, these features may be useful as biomarkers predictive of CML relapse in patients that are candidates to initiate treatment discontinuation.