The MCL Consortium Promotes Growth in Mantle Cell Lymphoma Research

The Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) Consortium and Scientific Workshop, hosted by the Lymphoma Research Foundation, serves as a critical forum for clinicians and researchers to share advancements in the treatment of a rare and complex disease. During the meeting, experts gathered to discuss landmark clinical trial data, the role of minimal residual disease in predicting outcomes, and the next generation of immunotherapies. Michael Wang, MD, Puddin Clark Endowed Professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, sat down with CancerNetwork to review the highlights of 2025’s workshop and the path toward achieving a clinical cure for patients with MCL.

CancerNetwork: Can you please give some background on the MCL workshop?

Wang: The Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium was established many decades ago by a grateful patient who initiated the program with the Lymphoma Research Foundation. This consortium has continued support from philanthropy and industry and has done a lot of great things. Each year, this consortium meets to bring together clinicians, clinical oncologists, hematologists, and basic translational researchers in 1 room for 2 concentrated days of presentations. Since my main career interest is MCL, I have been attending this conference for over 20 years. We had another successful meeting with a lot of progress to report.

Can you speak to any specific highlights from the event?

Every year, we enjoy progress, and this was no exception regarding clinical trials. We conducted the phase 3 ECHO clinical trial (NCT02972840), which showed great progression-free survival data in favor of acalabrutinib plus bendamustine/rituximab (Rituxan; BR) vs BR plus placebo. This has been approved in the US and Europe and has become the new standard of therapy for patients 65 years or older.

We also had important follow-ups on minimal residual disease data on acalabrutinib plus lenalidomide plus rituximab in newly diagnosed MCL. Additionally, there were preliminary reports on many agents, such as CAR T cells. We discussed brexucabtagene autoleucel (brexu-cel; Tecartus) and lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel; Breyanzi). While the first approved CAR T [brexu-cel] has great efficacy, it has higher cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity; liso-cel showed similar efficacy but with reduced CRS and neurotoxicity.

We also heard about a new BTK [Bruton tyrosine kinase] degrader, a new BCL2 inhibitor called sonrotoclax—which may have more specificity and less toxicity than venetoclax—and bispecific antibodies like glofitamab-gxbm [Columvi] and epcoritamab-bysp [Epkinly]. Another effective combination discussed was polatuzumab vedotin plus mosunetuzumab, which has [helped] many patients who relapsed after CAR T-cell therapy.

What is the importance of having this collaborative meeting?

In addition to the exchange of scientific, clinical, and translational information, the meeting fosters collaboration. Because of this meeting, I am currently collaborating with 3 more partners. We have captured major grants through these collaborations initiated at the consortium. With the leadership of [both established and younger generations of researchers], I believe more collaborations will be forced through this event. This year, Dr Martin Dreyling earned the Lifetime Achievement Award for his critical contributions, including the establishment of the [MCL International Prognostic Index] and leading the phase 3 TRIANGLE study [NCT02858258], which proved that autologous stem cell transplant is not needed in certain newly diagnosed patients.

What would you say are some of the most pressing unmet needs in MCL that current clinical trials are hoping to address?

The urgent need is in the clinic. Historically, MCL was considered not curable because the majority of patients would experience relapsed disease. We have moved from the chemotherapy era to the targeted therapy era with 3 generations of BTK inhibitors, BCL2 inhibitors, and oral agents. While these are great at reducing tumor volume, the disease continues to relapse.

CAR T-cell therapies have been a powerful platform, extending overall survival from less than a year to almost 5 years on the phase 2 ZUMA-2 trial [NCT02601313]. However, many patients still relapse. The urgent need is for the patients who have used all these agents and combinations; we need to know what the next therapy is. We need to continue to explore new targeted therapies, better immunotherapies, and more bispecific antibodies.

How do you see the MCL treatment landscape evolving in the future?

MCL used to be the most difficult lymphoma to treat; now, it is possibly curable. My clinical definition of a cure is when a patient has a complete remission for 15 years without interruption. I have many patients in my clinic who have already reached 15 years. Another definition of a cure is if the patient dies from something else, like heart problems or other tumors, rather than the lymphoma. I think we are in the middle of this evolution. We cannot cure everybody yet, but we will achieve the cure gradually by increasing the cure rate generation after generation.