Bispecific drugs and innovative cell therapies in lymphoid diseases: identification of response predictive factors and optimization of therapeutic algoritms.

Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells (CAR-T cells) therapy is a revolutionary biologic drug that has already shown tremendous improvement in the outcome of some refractory B-cell malignancies: the JULIET and ZUMA-1 trials reported long-term responses in 30-40% of relapsed-refractory (r/r) Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), representing a notable progress over the historical mark of 7% of long-term survivors in the SCHOLAR-1 study. However, such remarkable efficacy is obtained at cost of some acute and later toxicities, most of them unpredictable.
Moreover, the rapid expansion of the therapeutic indications to Acute Lymphoid Leukemia and Multiple Myeloma and the new bispecific molecules, is posing important questions regarding the best algorithm for administration these therapies, not only for greater efficacy, but also to minimize toxicity and increase tolerability.

First of all, the researcher will have to study the immunological and biochemical aspect triggered by innovative immunotherapies. Furthermore, he will critically evaluate the application of these new therapies, in order to define decision-making algorithms and therapeutic approaches that could be guide the optimization of the indication and reduce the procedural risk.