Looking forward, Dr. Shalabi and her team are asking bigger questions: “For future directions – and this is a very big question that those in the room would probably like to know – by inducing NGS-negativity, can CAR T therapy allow for HCT conditioning deintensification, potentially reducing the risk of TRM [transplant-related mortality] and long term comorbidities?”
A future trial will explore outcomes for a conditioning regimen that omits TBI for patients who are MRD-negative by NGS, said Dr. Shalabi.
Another direction for her team’s research is to see whether introducing CAR T-cell therapy earlier in a very-high-risk population may improve outcomes; the current study population was heavily pretreated, Dr. Shalabi said.
Dr. Shalabi is employed by the National Cancer Institute. She reported no conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Shalabi H et al. 2018 BMT Tandem Meetings, Abstract 6.