tisagenlecleucel + tocilizumab

The designation "CART 19-University of Pennsylvania-cytokine release syndrome" refers to a specific therapeutic regimen and clinical protocol (notably NCT02906371) evaluating the optimized timing of **tocilizumab** administration to manage or prevent **cytokine release syndrome (CRS)** in patients receiving **CART19** (tisagenlecleucel) therapy. CART19 is an autologous chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy targeting CD19-expressing B cells, developed by the University of Pennsylvania and licensed to Novartis. It utilizes a lentiviral vector to express a CAR with a 4-1BB costimulatory domain. Tocilizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that acts as an interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor antagonist, marketed by Roche/Genentech. The protocol specifically investigates the preemptive use of tocilizumab in pediatric and young adult patients with high tumor burden relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to reduce the incidence of severe (grade 4) CRS, a systemic inflammatory response triggered by the rapid expansion of CAR-T cells.

Brand names

KymriahActemra

Other names

CART 19-University of Pennsylvania-cytokine release syndromeCART19-University of Pennsylvania-cytokine release syndromeCART-19-University of Pennsylvania-cytokine release syndrometisagenlecleuceltocilizumab