CAR T and Transplantation Advances Across Hematologic Cancers at ASCO 2025

CancerNetwork^®, in collaboration with The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT), organized an X Space hosted by Rahul Banerjee, MD, FACP; Taha Al-Juhaishi, MD; and Muhammad Salman Faisal, MD. This expert panel convened to discuss key presentations and abstracts of interest at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting featuring noteworthy developments in modalities like CAR T-cell therapy and transplantation across multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and other disease types.

Banerjee is an assistant professor in the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington. Al-Juhaishi is the associate director of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapy Program at Oklahoma University Health Stephenson Cancer Center and an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. Faisal is a hematologist/oncologist at Oklahoma University Health Stephenson Cancer Center and serves as an ambassador for ASCO.

The group highlighted several late-breaking abstracts, plenary sessions, and poster presentations focused on significant clinical trial data and other findings across the hematologic oncology landscape. Topics of interest included the following:

• Phase 1b/2 CARTITUDE-1 trial (NCT03548207, NCT05201781)¹
  • Long-term follow-up showed that approximately one-third (33%; n = 32) of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma maintained progression-free status for at least 5 years following a single infusion of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel; Carvykti).
  • An equal likelihood of progression-free survival occurred in patients with high-risk cytogenetics or extramedullary plasmacytomas.
  • With a median follow-up of 61.3 months, the median overall survival (OS) with cilta-cel was 60.7 months (95% CI, 41.9-not evaluable [NE]).
• Real-world axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) use²
  • Across inpatient and outpatient treatment settings, safety and efficacy outcomes were comparable for patients who received axi-cel for relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma.
  • Multivariate analysis showed no associations between intended care setting and cytokine release syndrome or immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome.
  • Investigators noted that these real-world data support the consideration of axi-cel in appropriate outpatient settings.
• Phase 1b/2 NEXICART-2 trial (NCT06097832)³
  • Investigators assessed NXC-201, a sterically optimized CAR T construct, as a treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory light chain amyloidosis, a population with no FDA-approved options.
  • Among 12 patients who received the agent at 450 x 10⁶ cells, 100% achieved rapid and deep hematologic responses at a median time to first and best response of 7 and 26 days, respectively.
  • With a median follow-up of 121 days (range, 29-289), no hematologic relapses or progression had occurred.

References

1. Voorhees P, Martin T, Lin Y, et al. Long-term (≥5 year) remission and survival after treatment with ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) in CARTITUDE-1 patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 16):7507. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.7507
2. Furqan F, Hemmer M, Tees M, et al. Trends and outcomes by inpatient and outpatient infusion of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) in the US for patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (R/R LBCL). J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 16):7023. doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.7023
3. Landau H, Hughes C, Rosenberg A, et al. Safety and efficacy data from Nexicart-2, the first US trial of CAR-T in R/R light chain (AL) amyloidosis, Nxc-201. J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 16):7508. doi:10.1200/JCO.2025.43.16_suppl.7508