Serial inflammatory cytokine levels are increased in atrial fibrillation after CAR T-cell therapy, researchers from the University of South Florida and Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa reported at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago in November.
The prospective observational cohort study, which involved 53 patients with lymphoma who received one of three U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved CAR T therapies (axicabtagene ciloleucel, tisagenlecleucel, or brexucabtagene autoleucel), investigated changes in inflammatory cytokines in patients who develop cardiotoxicity after CAR T therapy.
Serum cytokines IL-2, IL-6, IL-15, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, GM-CSF, and angiopoietin 1 and 2 were analyzed before lymphodepletion and daily during the index hospitalization using the ELLA immunoassay system. A cardio-oncology team adjudicated cardiac events.
Nine cardiac events were identified following CAR T therapy, of which eight were atrial fibrillation and one cardiomyopathy. All of the identified events occurred in patients who had low-grade cytokine release syndrome. Patients experiencing cardiac events were older and had higher baseline creatinine levels and left atrial volume. Seven patients were treated with tocilizumab. Although pre–CAR T levels of inflammatory cytokines did not differ in the patients who had cardiac events, these patients had higher median peak IFN-gamma, IL-6, and IL-15 levels.
- Lee DH, Jain M, Faramand RG, et al. Serial Inflammatory Cytokine Levels Are Increased in Atrial Fibrillation After Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell (CAR-T) Therapy. Abstract 10475. Poster presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2022, Chicago, IL, November 6, 2022.