Manufacturing results of tisagenlecleucel for acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a survey by the CAR-T cell therapy taskforce of the Japan Society of Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapy

Abstract

The frequency of the manufacturing failure of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy in clinical practice is unknown. To clarify the current state of how likely CAR-T cell production is to succeed or fail for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), we analyzed cases in which the production of tisagenlecleucel was performed for patients with B-ALL at 15 facilities in Japan from October 2019 to March 2022. Total 81 patients (47 males and 34 females) were analyzed. The median age at apheresis was 13 years (1-25) with a median number of prior treatments of 4 (1-9). The numbers of patients with histories of allogeneic transplantation, inotuzumab ozogamicin, or blinatumomab treatments were 51 (63.0%), 26 (32.1%), and 37 (45.7%), respectively. The median blast percentage and CD3+ cell counts in peripheral blood were 0% (0-91.5), and 611/µl (35-4,210) at apheresis, and the median number of CD3+ cells shipped was 2.2×109 (0.5-8.3). While cases with a history of heavy prior treatment before apheresis were included, no manufacturing failures were observed. Continuing to monitor the status of manufacturing failures is necessary as the number of B-ALL cases treated with CAR-T cell therapy increases.