Ghobadi on the Correlation Between CD8/CD4 Ratio and Responses to Blinatumomab in Patients With DLBCL

In an interview with CancerNetwork®, Armin Ghobadi, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, explained the association between a higher CD8/CD4 ratio for patients with diffuse B-cell lymphoma who were still in remission at the median follow-up and durable responses after blinatumomab (Blincyto) treatment in a study (NCT03072771) presented at the 2020 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition.

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When we looked at those who are still in remission up to 15 months later versus those who relapsed, interestingly, we found out that the ratio of CD8 to CD4 before they started blinatumomab and after BEAM [carmustine, etopside, cytarabine, and melphan] and autologous transplant was significantly higher in those patients still in remission 15 months later. And that has been reported in other studies. Basically, blinatumomab [is] bringing in T-cells, effector cells, to go after the lymphoma cells. And in this case, having a higher ratio of CD8 to CD4 was associated with durable response even after 1 cycle of blinatumomab.