CART Therapy

CAR-T cell or bispecific antibody therapies are a new treatment option for adult patients with aggressive forms of lymphoma or so-called plasma cell diseases ('multiple myeloma', 'plasma cell myeloma') that could not be cured with other, less intensive approaches. However, these are intensive therapies that can be associated with severe and potentially life-threatening side effects. Although there is no age limit for these therapies, we know little about the short- and long-term side effects of these treatments in people of advanced age. Although a small number of patients in the pivotal studies were even over 80 years old, their number was too small to be able to assess the tolerability and success specifically in people over 65. At present, the treating physicians decide whether and, if so, which patients are considered 'fit' enough for this therapy. An objective assessment of the kind we want to investigate in our study does not currently exist on a regular basis. In this study, we therefore want to use simple clinical methods to investigate the effects of these forms of therapy in different areas of everyday function that are important for people in older age (mobility, memory, self-care skills, nutrition). We want to find out whether these investigations help to predict the risk of severe and/or long-term side effects. Based on the results, a pragmatic geriatric assessment could be introduced as standard before these therapies. Older patients could thus expect an improvement in their quality of life thanks to more predictable risks and side effects. Standardized screening could lead to lower healthcare costs for treatment and aftercare for both forms of therapy.

Pre-neutropenic fever (PNF) (fever following chemotherapy but before developing low white cells) and neutropenic fever (NF) (fever in the setting of low white cells) are very common after chemotherapy for acute leukemia, bone marrow transplantation or Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy. Often, there is no bacterial cause for fever found, and in the setting of a well patient with resolved fever, some studies have shown it to be safe to cease antibiotic therapy which was commenced at the onset of fever. This reduces the overall exposure to antibiotics, which can be beneficial to the patient (reduced risk of resistant bugs emerging, reduced serious side effects). However, some subgroups of high-risk patients have been underrepresented in these studies (in particular, those who have received a bone marrow transplant from a donor, those with longer duration of low white cells) and none have been performed in Australia, hence applying this data to our setting and patient groups is indirect and further data are needed. This study plans to recruit participants who have received chemotherapy for acute leukemia or a stem cell transplant (either their own cells or a donor's cells) or CAR T-cell therapy and perform a trial to compare early stopping of antibiotics (STOP arm) to the standard of care, which traditionally involves continuing antibiotics until the white cell count reaches above a specific threshold. The primary study outcome is duration of days free of antibiotics within 28 days of study allocation. The investigators will also observe for important clinical outcomes including rates of fever recurrence, bloodstream and other infections, intensive care admission and mortality. Patients will stay in hospital during this period, even in the setting of stopping antibiotics, and these antibiotics can be recommenced urgently according to the sepsis protocol if there is concern for infection.

This study aims to explore whether adding immunotherapy bridging treatment for low-risk refractory/relapsed B-NHL can demonstrate better outcomes, in order to find the most effective treatment plan for low-risk patients.

This is a single-arm, open-label, single-center, phase I study. The primary objective is to evaluate the safety of CD7 Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T(CAR-T) therapy for patients with CD7-positive relapsed or refractory natural killer/T cell lymphoma, and to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of CD7 CAR-T in patients。