Dr. Chaudhary on Remaining Challenges With CAR T-Cell Therapy

Preet M. Chaudhary, MD, PhD, chief of the Jane Anne Nohl Division of Hematology and Center for the Study of Blood Diseases, Department of Medicine, professor of Medicine, Ronald H. Bloom Family Chair in Lymphoma Research, and program director of the USC Norris Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, co-leader of the Molecular Genetics Program, University of Southern California, discusses challenges that oncologists continue to face when treating patients with CAR T-cell therapy.

Chaudhary begins by giving credit to the work of several investigators from multiple major cancer centers across the world, because with their help, this field has been able to overcome logistical issues with the manufacturing and production of CAR T-cell therapy. He hopes that, in the near future, these experts will also be able to overcome regulatory hurdles and achieve FDA approval of these agents.

However, he says, the major challenge that remains in the community is the management of toxicities associated with CAR T-cell therapy. Chaudhary believes that many physicians in this space are simply not equipped to handle patients who may present with, for example, neurological toxicity or cytokine release syndrome. He hopes that these issues will be addressed moving forward.

Most of the success seen thus far with CAR T-cell therapy has been in the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies, and primarily B-cell malignancies, he explains. Chaudhary is confident that the efficacy of these agents can, and should, be expanded for the treatment of patients with solid tumors and other types of cancer.