Successful treatment of acute B lymphoblastic leukemia relapse in the skin and testicle by anti-CD19 CAR-T with IL-6 knocking down: a case report

Abstract

Background

Extramedullary relapse is an important cause of treatment failure among patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This type of relapse is commonly observed in the central nervous system, while it is rare in the testicles and skin. Chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cell (CAR-T) therapy targeting CD19 has shown to be a beneficial treatment approach for relapsed/refractory B cell acute lymphoblasticleukemia (r/r B-ALL). Yet, few studies have reported data regarding the treatment of extramedullary B-ALL relapse, especially both in skin and testicle, with CAR-T therapy.

Case presentation

Here we reported a single case of a patient with relapsed B-ALL in skin and testicle who was successfully treated by the shRNA-IL6-modified anti-CD19 CAR-T(ssCAR-T-19) therapy. A 29-year-old man with relapsed B-ALL in skin and testicle was enrolled in clinal trial involving the shRNA-IL6-modified anti-CD19 CAR-T(ssCAR-T-19) therapy (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03919240). The patient had toxicity consistent with the grade 1 cytokine release syndrome.

Conclusions

ssCART-19 therapy may be used to effectively eliminate infiltrating leukemia cells in the skin and testicle with mild toxicity, which could be a much safer approach to bridge allo-HSCT, thus further improving the patient’s outcome.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03919240, Registered 18 April 2019, retrospectively registered.