A good response of refractory mantel cell lymphoma to haploidentical CAR T cell therapy after failure of autologous CAR T cell therapy

BACKGROUND: The aggressive form of Mantle cell non-hodgkin B cell lymphoma (MCL) has a dismal prognosis. Dual targeting BTK and BCL2 with ibrutinib and venetoclax has improved outcomes in MCL patients who were predicted not to respond to conventional therapy, but it is unlikely to be curative. Chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR T) cells exhibit very effective function in elimination of relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphoid malignancies, we investigated their use in a patient with relapsed MCL. CASE PRESENTATION: Here, we report a case of a refractory MCL in a patient who had relapsed after conventional chemotherapy and autologous CAR T cell therapy. The patient received multiple molecularly targeted therapies, including targeting BTK and BCL2, and haplo-identical CAR T (haplo-CAR T) cells from her daughter without previous allo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Haplo-CAR T cells could effectively proliferate in vivo and had a clinically significant antitumor activity without serious side effects. The patient achieved a partial remission, with minimal residual disease. CONCLUSIONS: This case suggests that haplo-CAR T cell therapy can be effective in controlling lymphoma that failed to respond to autologous CAR T cell therapy and overcome limitation of autologous CAR T cells, thus may be one possible regimen before the era of off-the-shelf “universal” CAR T cell therapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR-OPN-16008526. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=13798; ChiCTR1800019385. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=32805; ChiCTR1800019449. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=32778. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s40425-019-0529-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.