Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS

Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS, assistant professor of medicine, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the potential of CAR T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma.

CAR T-cell therapy has shown high response rates in heavily pretreated and high-risk patients multiple myeloma, says Garfall.

The modality has been shown to lead to extended treatment-free remissions. Although the majority of patients with multiple myeloma who receive CAR T-cell therapy will relapse, the modality has shown potential for long-term immune surveillance against relapse, concludes Garfall.

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Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS, discusses the potential of CAR T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma. 
 

Dr. Garfall Discusses CAR T-Cell Therapy in Multiple Myeloma

Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS, assistant professor of Medicine, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the impact of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in hematologic malignancies.

The use of CAR T-cell therapies for patients with hematologic malignancies has become a very remarkable and translational medicine story that has played out over the last 20 years, Garfall explains. This type of treatment has also come into clinical application use in the last 5 years with pilot and multicenter studies that are targeting CD19 with CAR T cells in patients with various B-cell malignancies, he adds. Another target includes BCMA in multiple myeloma. Soon, the community could see the first FDA approval of CAR T-cell therapy.

An ongoing conversation among oncologists is discussing the various data available for CAR T-cell therapies explored in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and comparing the response rates and safety profiles, he adds.

Dr. Garfall on Impact of CAR T-Cell Therapy in Hematologic Malignancies

Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS, assistant professor of Medicine, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Studies have now progressed to the point where there are enough patients treated to ascertain certain patterns of response and resistance across different malignancies, Garfall explains.

In ALL, there are 90% response rates with CAR T-cell therapy in patients who are refractory to all other therapies. However, a sizeable portion of those patients will relapse and, in most cases, those relapses will be selection for CD19-negative disease, where the leukemia has managed to eliminate the target of the CAR T cell.

Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS, assistant professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses CAR T-cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS

Articles

Dr. Garfall Discusses CAR T-Cell Therapy in Multiple Myeloma

Dr. Garfall on Impact of CAR T-Cell Therapy in Hematologic Malignancies

Dr. Garfall on CAR T Cells in ALL