Unmet Needs, Combination Therapies, and the Future of CAR T Consolidation in MCL

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) remains a challenging and rare disease, driving oncologists and researchers to continually seek optimal sequencing and combination strategies for novel agents. To address these critical, global questions, the Lymphoma Research Foundation hosted the2025Mantle Cell Lymphoma Scientific Consortium and Workshop, a vital international forum where physicians from around the globe come together to share cutting-edge data, align on research goals, and foster collaboration to avoid pitfalls in clinical trial design.

Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, spoke with CancerNetwork® to discuss the major takeaways and future directions highlighted at the most recent workshop. Vose emphasized that this collaborative approach is essential for advancing care in a rare disease like MCL, particularly for coordinating multisite clinical trials to ensure sufficient patient enrollment.

A central theme from the workshop was the pressing unmet need to better define the role of sequential and combination therapies involving established agents, such as Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors and BCL-2 inhibitors like venetoclax (Venclexta). Furthermore, Vose highlighted the exciting research focused on improving upon chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, specifically by investigating novel strategies such as using bispecific antibodies or maintenance treatments to consolidate remission in patients with difficult-to-treat disease. These sequential or combination studies are positioned as the way of the future for MCL management.

Vose is the George and Peggy Payne Distinguished Chair of Oncology, professor in the Division of Hematology, and director of the Lymphoma Research Group at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and co–editor in chief of ONCOLOGY®.

What is the background of the MCL Workshop?

The Mantle Cell Lymphoma Consortium Workshop has now gone on for quite a few years, and it’s an important way for physicians around the globe who take care of patients with mantle cell lymphoma and do research to come together and try to share data and their research, and to be able to collaborate. It’s an important way that people don’t make the same mistakes in their research that others have made, and collaborate to try to do clinical trials together and ensure their research. It’s been an important addition. [The workshop takes place] every other year because research doesn’t necessarily go that fast in these rare diseases, and internationally, which is also important to be able to share all the data and research across the globe.

What was a highlight of the event for you?

Seeing all the researchers from around the world who collaborate on not only basic science research, translational research, but also clinical trials, and to be able to make sure that everyone’s up to date with all the information, so that we can bring that back home and share that, and help our own patients and our research and clinical care at home. It’s been something that’s been very rewarding for physicians over the years.

This is a very collaborative meeting, and there’s a group of physicians who are the planning committee, and they collaborate together to make the agenda, taking into consideration a lot of the new things that have come out during the time from the last meeting, Inviting an international group of physicians who specialize or do research in mantle cell lymphoma, so that we can get not only the US perspective, but also international perspective on new clinical trials, new translational research, and upcoming things that are in the laboratory [so] the rest of us who do don’t do basic research…can see how it’s going to benefit patients in the future.

What are some of the most pressing unmet needs in MCL that current clinical trials are aiming to address?

MCL has improved as far as treatment over the years. There’s lots of new medications, such as the Bruton tyrosine kinase or BTK inhibitors, venetoclax, BCL-2 inhibitors, and other new medications, but there’s a lot of clinical trials that are needed in trying to look at combinations or sequencing of these treatments, and also to look at other new therapies that aren’t FDA approved yet. To share these data is important. MCL is a rare disease, and so we need to collaborate to be able to get enough patients for these trials, and this is one way of putting all the minds together.

Is there any research on the horizon that you’re excited about?

The research that’s on the horizon would be ways to improve upon CAR T-cell therapy, for example, trying to look at doing some of the bispecific antibodies, maybe after CAR T cell to see if it can consolidate the treatment or other different additions, maybe some maintenance treatment after the CAR T cell for these very difficult patients who haven’t been able to obtain a remission anywhere else. Probably sequential or combination therapy and different scientifically designed studies are the way of the future.