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Recipient: Luke Maillie, MD, internal medicine resident (PGY3), University of Pennsylvania/Abramson Cancer Center
Awards Session: ASTCT Spotlight Session: Best of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy: Selections from the ASTCT Journal and New Investigator Awards, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. MST in Room 151 G of the Salt Palace Convention Center
Lecture title: Prolonged Neurologic Symptoms Following Immune Effector Cell-Associated Neurotoxicity Syndrome in Patients with Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treated with CAR-Modified T cell Therapy
What does this award mean to you?
“I feel very honored to have received this award on behalf of the work of our entire team, and I am deeply grateful for the mentorship and guidance I received on this project by all of our co-authors, especially Daniel Landsburg, MD.”
What do you plan to talk about in your award lecture?
“Our paper focuses on patients who developed long-term neurologic symptoms that received CAR T therapy for large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) after developing immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). We defined ‘long-term’ as symptoms lasting longer than four weeks. Specifically, we plan to talk about the types of symptoms patients developed and who seems most predisposed to developing such symptoms. Finally, we summarize what is still yet to be understood about these long-term neurologic symptoms.”
How did you first become interested in transplantation and cellular and gene therapy?
“I first learned about CAR T as a first-year resident when I met several patients who had lymphoma that was refractory to several other lines of therapy and who had presented right after receiving an infusion of their therapy. Having the chance to hear from such patients on what they had gone through, and what they were hopeful for and nervous about, made me interested in seeing the full potential that cellular therapy holds for patients. I still am deeply grateful to all those patients who so openly shared their stories.”
How do you hope your work influences the field?
“More and more, I think we’re starting to learn about long-term neurologic effects in patients who experienced ICANS. I’m hopeful that the more we learn about these effects, the more we’ll be able to predict who may be predisposed to developing such effects. Moreover, I am hopeful that more work will continue to go into the best management of such symptoms.”
What excites you most about the future developments in the field of transplantation and cellular and gene therapy?
“While I think there is a lot to be excited about with CAR T and the future of transplantation and cellular and gene therapy, one of the most exciting things to me is the ongoing work to ‘decentralize’ CAR T. I believe such efforts to make CAR T more widely available will not only make CAR T more accessible for patients who are eligible for the therapy, but also help to reduce disparities in access to CAR T.”
The Robert Korngold Award is presented annually at the Tandem Meetings | Transplantation and Cellular Therapy of Meetings of ASTCT® and CIBMTR®. Visit the ASTCT website to learn more about this and other ASTCT award recognitions.
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