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ARTICLE | Clinical News

Predictive biomarkers linked to cytokine release syndrome

April 19, 2016 1:33 AM UTC

Researchers led by David Teachey at the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania and University of Pennsylvania think they have identified the first predictive biomarkers of severe cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in patients undergoing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. Two models, each using sets of three cytokine biomarkers, led to accurate predictions of which acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients would develop severe CRS following treatment.

In a paper published last week in Cancer Discovery, the researchers said they validated a model predicting which of 12 pediatric ALL patients would develop severe CRS after receiving CAR T therapy CTL019 from Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) and the University of Pennsylvania. Elevated levels of 24 cytokines, including interferon (IFN) gamma, interleukin-13 (IL-13) and macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha ( CCL3; MIP1A), were associated with severe CRS. ...