Haploidentical CD19/CD22 bispecific CAR-T cells induced MRD-negative remission in a patient with relapsed and refractory adult B-ALL after haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

BACKGROUND: Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy simultaneously against CD19 and CD22 is an attractive strategy to address the antigen escape relapse after CD19-directed CAR-T cell therapies. However, the potential of optimizing the durability of remission by this approach in patients with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) remains a critical unanswered question so far. CASE PRESENTATION: We treated an adult patient with relapsed and refractory B-ALL after haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) by administering haploidentical CAR-T cells targeting both CD19 and CD22 following preparative lymphodepleting chemotherapy. This patient has remained in minimal residual disease-negative remission for more than 14 months and has been tapered off graft versus host disease prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: CAR simultaneously targeting CD19 and CD22 has the potential of inducing long-term remission in patients with B-ALL. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13045-019-0741-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.