The Addition of the BTK Inhibitor Ibrutinib to Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells (CART19) Improves Responses against Mantle Cell Lymphoma.

PURPOSE: Responses to therapy with chimeric antigen receptor T cells recognizing CD19 (CART19, CTL019) may vary by histology. Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) represents a B-cell malignancy that remains incurable despite novel therapies such as the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib, and where data from CTL019 therapy are scant. Using MCL as a model, we sought to build upon the outcomes from CTL019 and from ibrutinib therapy by combining these in a rational manner.

EXPERIMENTAL

DESIGN

MCL cell lines and primary MCL samples were combined with autologous or normal donor-derived anti-CD19 CAR T cells along with ibrutinib. The effect of the combination was studied in vitro and in mouse xenograft models.

RESULTS

MCL cells strongly activated multiple CTL019 effector functions, and MCL killing by CTL019 was further enhanced in the presence of ibrutinib. In a xenograft MCL model, we showed superior disease control in the CTL019- as compared with ibrutinib-treated mice (median survival not reached vs. 95 days, P < 0.005) but most mice receiving CTL019 monotherapy eventually relapsed. Therefore, we added ibrutinib to CTL019 and showed that 80% to 100% of mice in the CTL019 + ibrutinib arm and 0% to 20% of mice in the CTL019 arm, respectively, remained in long-term remission (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Combining CTL019 with ibrutinib represents a rational way to incorporate two of the most recent therapies in MCL. Our findings pave the way to a two-pronged therapeutic strategy in patients with MCL and other types of B-cell lymphoma. Clin Cancer Res; 22(11); 2684-96. ©2016 AACR.