Adverse effects in hematologic malignancies treated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy: a systematic review and Meta-analysis

• Published in: BMC cancer 2022-01, Vol.22 (1), p.98-98, Article 98
• Main Authors: Luo, Wenjing, Li, Chenggong, Zhang, Yinqiang, Du, Mengyi, Kou, Haiming, Lu, Cong, Mei, Heng, Hu, Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Aged; Alanine; Alanine transaminase; Analysis; Anemia; Antigen receptors, T cell; Antigens; Aspartate aminotransferase; Bias; Blood cancer; Blood diseases; Cancer; Care and treatment; CD19 antigen; CD28 antigen; Cell therapy; Child; Child, Preschool; Chimeric antigen receptor; Chimeric antigen receptors; Clinical trials; Creatine; Diagnosis; Female; Fibrinogen; Hematologic Neoplasms - immunology; Hematologic Neoplasms - therapy; Hematologic toxicity; Hematological malignancies; Hematology; Hematopoietic stem cells; Hemorrhage; Hemorrhage - immunology; Humans; Immunotherapy, Adoptive - adverse effects; Infant; Infections - immunology; Leukemia; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Lymphoma; Male; Measurement; Meta-analysis; Middle Aged; Multiple myeloma; Neurotoxicity; Neutropenia; Patients; Receptors; Receptors, Chimeric Antigen - immunology; Review; Risk factors; Side effects; Stem cell transplantation; Systematic review; T cells; Thrombocytopenia; Toxicity; Transaminase; Transplantation; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1471-2407; 1471-2407
• DOI: 10.1186/s12885-021-09102-x

Recently, chimeric antigen receptor-modified (CAR) T cell therapy for hematological malignancies has shown clinical efficacy. Hundreds of clinical trials have been registered and lots of studies have shown hematologic toxic effects were very common. The main purpose of this review is to systematically analyze hematologic toxicity in hematologic malignancies treated with CAR-T cell therapy. We searched databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane up to January 2021. For safety analysis of overall hematologic toxicity, the rate of neutrophil, thrombocytopenia and anemia were calculated. Subgroup analysis was performed for age, pathological type, target antigen, co-stimulatory molecule, history of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and prior therapy lines. The incidence rate of aspartate transferase (AST) increased, alanine transaminase (ALT) increased, serum creatine increased, APTT prolonged and fibrinogen decreased were also calculated. Overall, 52 studies involving 2004 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The incidence of any grade neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and anemia was 80% (95% CI: 68-89%), 61% (95% CI: 49-73%), and 68% (95%CI: 54-80%) respectively. The incidences of grade ≥ 3 neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and anemia were 60% (95% CI: 49-70%), 33% (95% CI: 27-40%), and 32% (95%CI: 25-40%) respectively. According to subgroup analysis and the corresponding Z test, hematological toxicity was more frequent in younger patients, in patients with ≥4 median lines of prior therapy and in anti-CD19 cases. The subgroup analysis of CD19 CAR-T cell constructs showed that 41BB resulted in less hematological toxicity than CD28. CAR-T cell therapy has dramatical efficacy in hematological malignancies, but the relevant adverse effects remain its obstacle. The most common ≥3 grade side effect is hematological toxicity, and some cases die from infections or severe hemorrhage in early period. In long-term follow-up, hematological toxicity is less life-threatening generally and most suffered patients recover to adequate levels after 3 months. To prevent life-threatening infections or bleeding events, clinicians should pay attention to intervention of hematological toxicity in the early process of CAR-T cell therapy.