Challenges in Managing High-Risk Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Bijal Shah, MD; Michael Wang, MD

This content originally appeared on our sister site, OncLive.

OncLive spoke with Bijal Shah, MD, MS, associate member, Department of Malignant Hematology, Moffitt Cancer Center, and Michael Wang, MD, professor, Department of Lymphoma & Myeloma, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, to learn more about managing high-risk mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

While chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy can be useful in this population, , patients with high-risk disease who are not identified early may not be eligible for the therapy, which requires apheresis and bridging therapy. Identifying patients early is critical to ensure all potential treatment options are available for use. High-risk MCL, which is characterized by blastoid or TP53 variants, can grow very quickly. Moreover, although indolent MCL may be actively monitored, high-risk MCL often requires aggressive treatment. 

Currently, a gap between referring community practices and academic practices exists because community practices may not be as familiar with identifying high-risk disease. As such, sharing knowledge of markers of high-risk disease and the differences between indolent and high-risk MCL is an important step to bridge that gap, Wang concludes.