CAR-T cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemias: What's new?

The approval of tisagenlecleucel in 8-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemias in 2017 in the USA and in 2018 in Europe not only opened new hopes but forced to rethink the hospital organizations around this innovation. Indeed, if these treatments are very effective in the short term, the complex logistics required imply high quality inter-center and intro-center collaboration. Hematology, intensive core unit, apheresis, neurology, cell therapy and biology laboratories, and radiology services must therefore act in a coordinated manner. A specialized monitoring for the mid and long term must also be implemented. Many questions remain concerning the profile of eligible patients, the short and long-term safety, the longer-term efficacy, improving the persistence of CAR-T cells, controlling the risk of tumor escape, the use of ollogenic CAR-T cells, or the application of this concept to T-cell ALL. The precise evaluation of the involved costs and the cost-effectiveness of these therapies will also be the subject of future studies.