Lymphodepleting chemotherapy practices and effect on safety and efficacy outcomes in patients with solid tumours undergoing T cell receptor-engineered T cell (TCR-T) Therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: T cell receptor-engineered T cell (TCR-T) therapy has shown promising efficacy in advanced solid tumours. Lymphodepleting (LD) chemotherapy improves TCR-T cell therapy efficacy but is associated with significant toxicities. Evidence is sparse regarding the optimum LD regimen for TCR-T cell therapy in solid tumours. Methods: A systematic review was conducted of interventional, prospective clinical trials describing LD practices prior to TCR-T cell therapy in patients with advanced solid tumours. The objective was to define LD regimens administered prior to TCR-T cell therapy and their effects on specific safety and efficacy outcomes in this patient population. Results: Searches returned 484 studies, 19 (231 patients) met the eligibility criteria. Cyclophosphamide (cyclo) 60 mg/kg daily (2 days), plus fludarabine (fludara) 25 mg/m2 daily (5 days) was the most common LD regimen (38% of studies). Higher dose LD regimens were associated with increased pooled incidence rates of febrile neutropaenia compared to low dose (0.64, [95% Confidence interval (CI): 0.50–0.78], vs. 0.39 [95% CI: 0.25–0.53], respectively) but were not significantly associated with higher objective responses (odds ratio: 1.05, 95%CI: 0.60–1.82, p = 0.86). A major shortfall in safety data reporting was identified; determination of LD regimen effects on many safety outcomes was not possible. Conclusion: Standard consensus guidelines for the design and reporting of adoptive cell therapy (ACT) studies would facilitate accurate risk–benefit analysis for optimising LD regimens in patients with advanced solid tumours.