Expert Point of View: Marcela Maus, MD
Commenting on the study presented by Schuster et al at the 2015 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, Marcela Maus, MD, Director of the Cellular Immunity Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said: “These are amazing results. The study shows that [chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered] CD19-directed T cells can have significant benefits in lymphoma. This opens the door for studying this therapy in these malignancies.”
She noted, “There were a large proportion of patients with durable responses, some of them out to a year.”
Dr. Maus also emphasized a notable difference between lymphomas and leukemias in the context of CAR-T therapy: “The magnitude of in vivo CAR-T cell expansion does not correlate with response [in lymphomas].” ■
Disclosure: Dr. Maus reported no potential conflicts of interest.
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