Five-year follow-up of patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma treated with anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy in ZUMA-2, Cohorts 1 and 2
BACKGROUND: Treatment with brexucabtagene autoleucel (brexu-cel), an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, demonstrated a high objective response rate (93%) and complete response rate (67%) in 60 patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (R/R MCL) treated in the pivotal ZUMA-2 Cohort 1 study. Subsequently, brexu-cel was approved in the United States and European Union for the treatment of adults with R/R MCL (after ≥ 2 prior therapies in the European Union). Here we report 5-year outcomes from the pivotal ZUMA-2 Cohort 1 study (N = 68), as well as two previously unpublished ZUMA-2 data sets, long-term outcomes in 10 patients who received axi-cel in Cohort 1 and in 14 patients who received a lower dose of brexu-cel in Cohort 2. METHODS: anti-CD19 CAR T cells/kg (brexu-cel). RESULTS: Median follow-up for the pivotal cohort (N = 68) was 67.8 months (range, 58.2-88.6) with a median DOR of 36.5 months (n = 60), per investigator review. Median OS was 46.5 months (95% CI, 24.5-60.2; N = 68) and was 60.2 months (95% CI, 42.8-not estimable) in patients with complete response (n = 46). The 5-year incidence of cumulative relapse-related and non-relapse-related mortality was 40% (24/60) and 22% (13/60) in responders, respectively. Descriptive outcomes for axi-cel-treated patients (N = 10) and Cohort 2 (N = 14) are reported herein. No Grade 5 cytokine-release syndrome or neurologic events, subsequent T-cell malignancies, or new safety signals were reported in any patient. CONCLUSIONS: Patients in ZUMA-2 continued to have durable responses after 5 years of follow-up with predictable long-term safety, supporting the continued use of brexu-cel in R/R MCL. Interpretations of outcomes in axi-cel-treated patients and Cohort 2 are not feasible due to small patient numbers and unmatched baseline characteristics. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02601313 and NCT05041309.
Authors
- Ian W. Flinn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6724-290X)
- Mengru Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0853-7732)
- Ioana Kloos
- Rhine R. Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8883-0727)
- André Goy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5125-6522)
- Wangshu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2688-5399)
- Rita Damico Khalid
- Frederick L. Locke
- Caron A. Jacobson
- Amer Beitinjaneh
- Michael L. Wang
- Max S. Topp
- Marie José Kersten
- John M. Timmerman
- John M. Pagel
- Javier Muñoz
- Dan Zheng
- Brian T. Hill
- Patrick M. Reagan
- Edouard Forcade
- Roch Houot
- David B. Miklos
Institutions
- Cleveland Clinic (US)
- Hackensack University Medical Center (US)
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US)
- University of Miami (US)
- Inserm (FR)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux (FR)
- Moffitt Cancer Center (US)
- Université Rennes 2 (FR)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (US)
- Universitätsklinikum Würzburg (DE)
- Tennessee Oncology (US)
- Mayo Clinic in Florida (US)
- Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center
- University of Rochester (US)
- Université de Rennes (FR)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Hematology & Oncology
- Published
- 2026-04-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13045-026-01797-4
- Primary Topic
- CAR-T cell therapy research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00