Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy for Lymphomas

It is estimated that 2.1% of the population of the United States will develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in a lifetime. With treatment, 71% of patients with NHL live to 5 years. Because current drugs used for treatment do not cure all patients and cause serious adverse effects, new strategies have been studied to treat lymphoma. One new pharmacologic strategy is to use chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapy. CAR T-cell therapies are very potent. As a class, the CAR T-cell therapies have induced complete remission in 50% to 80% of patients. Most patients using CAR T-cell therapies develop cytokine release syndrome, with about 1 in 3 having a severe form of the syndrome. This article will briefly review CAR T-cell therapies in development. (The full article is available in the ​July-August 2017 issue of Hospital Pharmacy)

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