Diagnostic approach to the evaluation of myeloid malignancies following CAR T-cell therapy in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Immunotherapeutic strategies targeting B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) effectively induce remission; however, disease recurrence remains a challenge. Due to the potential for antigen loss, antigen diminution, lineage switch or development of a secondary or treatment-related malignancy, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aimee C Talleur, Brandon M Triplett, Haneen Shalabi, Bonnie Yates, Nirali N Shah, George Mo, Hao-Wei Wang, Michael G Douvas, Katherine R Calvo, Jack F Shern, Sridhar Chaganti, Katharine Patrick, Young Song, Terry J Fry, Xiaolin Wu, Javed Khan, Rebecca A Gardner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2020-07-01
Series:Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
Online Access:https://jitc.bmj.com/content/8/2/e001563.full
Description
Summary:Immunotherapeutic strategies targeting B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) effectively induce remission; however, disease recurrence remains a challenge. Due to the potential for antigen loss, antigen diminution, lineage switch or development of a secondary or treatment-related malignancy, the phenotype and manifestation of subsequent leukemia may be elusive. We report on two patients with multiply relapsed/refractory B-ALL who, following chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, developed myeloid malignancies. In the first case, a myeloid sarcoma developed in a patient with a history of myelodysplastic syndrome. In the second case, two distinct events occurred. The first event represented a donor-derived myelodysplastic syndrome with monosomy 7 in a patient with a prior hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This patient went on to present with lineage switch of her original B-ALL to ambiguous lineage T/myeloid acute leukemia. With the rapidly evolving field of novel immunotherapeutic strategies, evaluation of relapse and/or subsequent neoplasms is becoming increasingly more complex. By virtue of these uniquely complex cases, we provide a framework for the evaluation of relapse or evolution of a subsequent malignancy following antigen-targeted immunotherapy.
ISSN:2051-1426