Cachexia is a risk factor for negative clinical and functional outcomes in patients receiving chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Cachexia is a muscle-wasting syndrome that is known to impact the clinical course of several cancer populations but has not been specifically investigated in patients receiving chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy. In this study, we investigated the relationship between cachexia markers and several cancer and functional outcomes in a pilot population of aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients receiving CAR-T. We found that the prognostic nutritional index was linked to progression-free survival, overall survival, and disability-free survival, while several additional weight and serum-based markers of cachexia were also associated with negative outcomes. These data prompt further investigation of cachexia markers in populations receiving CAR-T cell therapy.