How does CAR T-cell therapy compare with allo-SCT for treating R/R LBCL?

The Lymphoma Hub was pleased to speak to the president of EBMT, Anna Sureda, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, ES. We asked, How does CAR T-cell therapy compare with allogenic stem cell transplant (allo-SCT) for treating relapsed or refractory large B cell lymphoma (LBCL)?

Sureda begins by highlighting the role of allo-SCT as the standard of care for patients with relapsed or refractory LBCL, with this being a stand-alone treatment option when other therapies have not been successful. Sureda then describes how the ZUMA-1, JULIET, and TRANSCEND trials have provided pivotal data to further elucidate how these therapies vary across lymphoma subtypes. Sureda explains that long-term follow-up studies are vital in tracking the success rate of CAR T-cell therapies and how they could now be an alternative to allo-SCT. However, though data seen in long-term studies of CAR T-cell therapy show higher remission rates and reduced active disease post-treatment, relapse rates are still higher in patients treated with CAR T-cell therapy than allo-SCT. Sureda uses data from various studies to compare CAR T-cell therapy and allo-SCT in varying subtypes of lymphoma, describing how individual patients would benefit from either treatment depending on their history.