Rationale for Ibrutinib/CAR T-Cell Therapy Combination in CLL
Jordan Gauthier, MD, MSc, discusses the rationale for combining ibrutinib with CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor T cells for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Jordan Gauthier, MD, a senior clinical research fellow at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses the rationale for combining ibrutinib (Imbruvica) with CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
While CAR T cells have been successful in aggressive lymphomas, acute lymphocytic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the results have not been as good in CLL, Gauthier says. However, ibrutinib can be beneficial by helping CLL cells migrate from the lymph nodes to the peripheral blood and can help improve the functionality of the CAR T cells.
