Real-world outcomes of infections following tisagenlecleucel in patients with B-cell ALL: a CIBMTR analysis

Hemalatha G. Rangarajan*, Prakash Satwani, Megan M. Herr, Min Chen, Michael J. Martens, Kitsada Wudhikarn, Samuel John, Vanessa A. Fabrizio, Emily M. Hsieh, Amar H. Kelkar, Erin Doherty, David I. Marks, Olle Ringden, Brian Friend, Matthew S. Kelly, Nosha Farhadfar, Tim Prestidge, Nasheed M. Hossain, Hongtao Liu, Shahrukh HashmiDipenkumar Modi, Lena E. Winestone, Zeinab El Boghdadly, Hemant S. Murthy, Miguel-Angel Perales, Roy F. Chemaly, Christopher E. Dandoy, Joshua A. Hill, Anna Huppler, Marcie Riches, Jeffery J. Auletta

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel) is a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (R/R B-ALL). We report infectious complications for 100 days (D100) following tisa-cel therapy in 471 pediatric and young adults (median age 13.8 years) with R/R B-ALL reported from September 2017 to June 2022. By D100, 137 (29%) patients had an infectious event, with an infection density of 0.542 per 100 person-days at risk. D100 cumulative incidences of bacterial, viral, and fungal infections were 14.1%, 11.6%, and 1.3%, corresponding to infection density scores of 0.296, 0.213, and 0.033 per 100 person-days at risk, respectively. In a multivariable analysis, receipt of ≥3 lines of therapy before tisa-cel (hazard ratio [HR], 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-3.08; P = .015), any-grade cytokine release syndrome (HR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.17-2.71; P = .007), and lack of neutrophil recovery (HR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.47-4.69; P = .001) were associated with an increased risk for any infection. Similar associations were observed for bacterial infections, with the addition of younger age as an adverse risk (<6 vs 6-15 years; HR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.23-4.61; P = .01). Risk factors for viral infections included increasing age (1-year increase; HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.09; P = .016), prior history of any infection (HR, 2.76, 95% CI, 1.40-5.46; P = .004), and prior hematopoietic cell transplant (HR, 2.10; 95% CI, 1.18-3.71; P = .011). D100 infection-related mortality (IRM) rate was low at 0.2% (95% CI, 0.0-0.8). In this multicenter real-world study, we observed a high incidence of infectious complications but a low IRM following tisa-cel for R/R B-ALL.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5489-5500
Number of pages12
JournalBlood Advances
Volume9
Issue number21
Early online date30 Oct 2025
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Nov 2025

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© 2025 The American Society of Hematology

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