Among patients with pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a prospective clinical trial (NCT02906371) found that risk-adapted preemptive tocilizumab (PT; Actemra) administration resulted in a decrease in the anticipated incidence of grade 4 cytokine release syndrome (CRS), meeting the study end point, without adversely impacting the antitumor efficacy or safety of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah).1
In the time since this trial was initiated, tisagenlecleucel, a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, has received FDA approval and is now available at some treatment centers.2 Thus, these study results, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, are applicable to a variety of patients who are at risk for severe CRS.
“CRS is the most common severe toxicity associated with CAR T-cells,” wrote the study authors, led by Stephan Kadauke, MD, PhD. “As…
