Investigating Axicabtagene Ciloleucel for Relapsed/Refractory Central Nervous System Lymphoma With Lakshmi Nayak, MD

At the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Lakshmi Nayak, MD, Director of the Center for Central Nervous System Lymphoma (CNSL) at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, presented an abstract entitled, “A pilot study of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) for relapsed/refractory primary and secondary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL and SCNSL).” After her presentation, she sat down to discuss in more depth her investigation of axi-cel for relapsed or refractory CNSL, including:

• The current treatment options and prognosis for CNSL
• How axi-cel has been used in other lymphomas and why it was investigated for CNSL
• The study design, patient population that was enrolled, and administration of axi-cel
• The results axi-cel produced and its safety and tolerability for CNSL
• Next steps and more!

About Dr. Nayak

Lakshmi Nayak, MD, is Director of the Center for Central Nervous System Lymphoma at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. As well, she leads the international Neurologic Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (NANO) effort for evaluation of neurologic function in patients with brain tumors. Dr. Nayak’s research focuses on the development of novel therapies for management of primary brain tumors including glioblastoma and primary CNSL. In addition, a portion of her research is focused on molecular-targeted agents and immunotherapeutics, including CAR T-cell therapy.