A Meta-analysis on Effects of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy in Relapsed or Refractory B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Objectives: This review evaluates the long-term outcomes and adverse events associated with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (r/r B-ALL).

Methods: We conducted the search in relevant databases up to June 2024. We included clinical trials on CAR T-cell therapy for patients with r/r B-ALL. Meta-analyses were conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V3 and Review Manager 5.4.

Results: Out of 2659 identified studies, 10 were included in this review. The pooled analysis demonstrated a high minimal residual disease-negative complete remission, with an overall event rate (ER) of 70% (95% CI: 61%-78%, I2 =8 8.35%). Anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy showed the highest efficacy with an ER of 74.75% (95% CI: 61%-80%, I2 = 89.84%). Combination therapies targeting CD19 and CD22 had an ER of 69% (95% CI: 53%-83%, I2 = 82.56%). Significant adverse effects included cytokine release syndrome with a mean incidence of 81.8% (95% CI: 76.7%-86.9%), neurotoxicity at 33.2% (95% CI: 28.1%-38.3%), and hematologic toxicities at 71.9% (95% CI: 66.4%-77.4%).

Conclusions: CAR T-cell therapy is a groundbreaking advancement in treating r/r B-ALL, offering high rates of durable remissions.