Phenotypic Composition of Commercial Anti-CD19 CAR T Cells Affects In Vivo Expansion and Disease Response in Patients with Large B-cell Lymphoma.

Purpose: In clinical trials, the expansion and persistence of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells correlate with therapeutic efficacy. However, properties of CAR T cells that enable their in vivo proliferation have still to be consistently defined and the role of CAR T bag content has never been investigated in a real-life setting.

Experimental Design: Residual cells obtained after washing 61 anti-CD19 CAR T product bags were analyzed to identify tisagenlecleucel/Tisa-cel and axicabtagene ciloleucel/Axi-cel phenotypic features associated with postinfusion CAR T-cell in vivo expansion and with response and survival.