CAR T-cell therapy combined with autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with refractory/relapsed Burkitt Lymphoma

Abstract

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a highly aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphomas that have a high likelihood of relapse and are highly refractory to initial treatment. While high-intensity chemotherapy has improved the outcomes, many adult patients still experience treatment failure, and effective salvage therapies are limited. This study retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of 21 relapsed or refractory (R/R) adult BL patients treated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, combined or not with hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), across four Chinese hospitals. Patients were grouped based on treatment strategies: autologous HCT followed by CAR T-cell therapy (auto-HCT+CART group, n=8), and CAR T-cell therapy alone (CART group, n=13). The auto-HCT+CART group demonstrated superior outcomes, with an overall response rate (ORR) of 87.5% and significantly higher 1-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates compared to the CART group (p=0.014 and p=0.045, respectively). These findings suggest that combining auto-HCT with CAR-T therapy may enhance long-term disease control in R/R BL patients. These encouraging results highlight the need for further prospective studies to validate our data.