Sequential CD19/22 CAR T-cell immunotherapy following autologous stem cell transplantation for central nervous system lymphoma

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy following autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is a promising method for refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma, but explicit data for central nervous system lymphoma (CNSL) are lacking. Here, we treated 13 CNSL patients with ASCT sequential CD19/22 CAR T-cell infusion and simultaneously evaluated the clinical efficacy and toxicity. The 13 CNSL patients analyzed included four primary CNSL and nine secondary CNSL patients. Patients 1 and 10, who had complete remission status before enrollment, maintained clinical efficacy without recurrence. Nine of the remaining 11 patients responded to our protocol with a median durable time of 14.03 months, and the overall response and complete remission rate were 81.81% and 54.55%, respectively. No patient suffered grades 3–4 cytokine-release syndrome (CRS), and only patient 10 experienced severe immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). In addition, increases in serum ferritin and interleukin-6 levels were often accompanied by CRS and ICANS. After a median follow-up time of 14.20 months, the estimated 1-year progression-free survival and overall survival rates were 74.59% and 82.50%, respectively. Sequential CD19/22 CAR T-cell immunotherapy following ASCT as a novel method for CNSL appears to have encouraging long-term efficacy with relatively manageable side effects.