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Immunotherapy

Safety and efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy in persons with advanced B-cell cancers and hepatitis B virus-infection

Leukemia volume 34, pages 2704–2707 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell is a safe and effective therapy of B-cell cancers but it is unknown if this is so in persons with prior hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. We studied 70 subjects with advanced B-cell cancers receiving CAR-T-cell therapy, 12 of whom had chronic HBV-infection (HBsAg positive) and 29 with resolved HBV-infection (HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive). Safety and efficacy were compared with 29 subjects without HBV-infection. HBV was reactivated in 2 subjects with chronic HBV-infection and 1 with resolved HBV-infection. There was no HBV-related hepatitis flare. Responses to CAR-T-cell therapy in the three cohorts were not significantly different. There was no significant difference in the incidence or severity of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurologic toxicity between the cohorts. Our data suggest that chronic and resolved HBV-infection do not affect the safety and efficacy of CAR-T-cell therapy.

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Fig. 1: Lymphocyte subsets and immunoglobulins.

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Acknowledgements

Supported in part by grants 81930005, 81970159, 81871263, 81700177, and 81600145 from National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant BK20160232 from Nature Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, grant 2016M590508 from China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project, grant 2015-WSW-058 from Foundation of Jiangsu Province Six Talents Peak, and grant LGY2018084 from Foundation of Jiangsu Province Six-one Project. RPG acknowledges support from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre funding scheme.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Ying Wang, Yang Liu, Xu Tan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Blood Diseases Institute, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Ying Wang, Yang Liu, Bin Pan, Kunming Qi, Hai Cheng, Jiang Cao, Zhiling Yan, Jianlin Qiao, Xue Wang, Wei Sang, Zhenyu Li, Feng Zhu & Kailin Xu

  2. Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Ying Wang, Yang Liu, Bin Pan, Kunming Qi, Hai Cheng, Jiang Cao, Zhiling Yan, Jianlin Qiao, Xue Wang, Wei Sang, Zhenyu Li, Feng Zhu & Kailin Xu

  3. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Bone Marrow Stem Cells, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Ying Wang, Yang Liu, Bin Pan, Kunming Qi, Hai Cheng, Jiang Cao, Zhiling Yan, Jianlin Qiao, Xue Wang, Wei Sang, Zhenyu Li, Feng Zhu & Kailin Xu

  4. Medical Center of Hematology, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China

    Xu Tan & Xi Zhang

  5. Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, He Fei, An Hui, China

    Jian Ge & Ruixiang Xia

  6. Cancer Institute, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Ming Shi & Junnian Zheng

  7. Center of Clinical Oncology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Ming Shi & Junnian Zheng

  8. iCARTAB biomedical co. LTD, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China

    Guangjun Jing

  9. Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Centre for Haematology Research, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Robert Peter Gale

Authors
  1. Ying Wang
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  2. Yang Liu
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  3. Xu Tan
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  4. Bin Pan
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  5. Jian Ge
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  6. Kunming Qi
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  7. Hai Cheng
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  8. Jiang Cao
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  9. Ming Shi
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  10. Zhiling Yan
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  11. Jianlin Qiao
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  12. Guangjun Jing
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  13. Xue Wang
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  14. Wei Sang
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  15. Ruixiang Xia
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  16. Xi Zhang
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  17. Zhenyu Li
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  18. Robert Peter Gale
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  19. Junnian Zheng
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  20. Feng Zhu
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  21. Kailin Xu
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Contributions

KX, FZ, YW, and YL designed the study. All the authors did acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data. YW, YL, KQ, JQ, HC, XT, and JG drafted the paper. RPG, KX, FZ, ZY, BP, and JQ performed Critical revision of the paper for important intellectual content. YW, YL, HC, KQ, ZY, and XT did Statistical analysis. MS, GJ, JC, and JZ provided administrative, technical, or material support.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Junnian Zheng, Feng Zhu or Kailin Xu.

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Conflict of interest

GJ is an employee of iCARTAB Biomedical Co Ltd. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Wang, Y., Liu, Y., Tan, X. et al. Safety and efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell therapy in persons with advanced B-cell cancers and hepatitis B virus-infection. Leukemia 34, 2704–2707 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-020-0936-4

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