CARnation Consortium

The Carnation Consortium is a multi-institution, multidisciplinary collaborative effort encompassing retrospective and prospective studies focused on improving outcomes following CAR T-cell therapy in children and young adults.

Who we are:

Physician/scientists/clinicians/care providers who are:

Treating children and young adults with (primarily investigational) CAR T-cells for relapsed/refractory cancer with over 10 years of experience
Deeply committed to synergistically advancing efforts of CAR T-cell therapy in children and young adults by bringing together our expertise and experiences to optimize CAR T-cell associated outcomes and laying a foundation for future collaborative efforts

Mission: To synergistically advance efforts of CAR T-cell therapy in children and young adults by bringing together our expertise and experiences to optimize CAR T-cell associated outcomes and lay a foundation for future collaborative efforts

Vision: To comprehensively evaluate collective outcomes of CAR T-cells in children and young adults across trials and/or constructs with a primary focus on data emerging from early phase studies and from CAR T-cell constructs beyond those which are commercially available

Research

CAR T-cell Multicenter Analysis (CAR-MA)

CAR-MA is a multicenter retrospective effort focused on 1) studying factors that impact CAR T-cell outcomes; 2) characterizing toxicities of CAR T-cells and 3) evaluating optimization strategies for children and young adults receiving CAR T-cells for leukemia.

Project EVOLVE: Evaluation of Lineage Switch: An International Initiative

Project EVOLVE was established to understand the diagnostic and treatment approaches to lineage switch (ALL to AML) following ALL directed targeted immunotherapy. Given the rarity of lineage switch, this project is intended to capture patients across the world who develop this unique leukemic transformation, as distinguished from the development of a second malignancy.

Publications:

Myers, R.M. et al. “Blinatumomab Nonresponse and High-Disease Burden Are Associated With Inferior Outcomes After CD19-CAR for B-ALL.” J Clin Oncol. 2022.
Lamble, A., et al. “Preinfusion factors impacting relapse immunophenotype following CD19 CAR T cells.” Blood Adv. 2022.
Hsieh, E. M., et al. "Low rate of subsequent malignant neoplasms following CAR T-cell therapy." Blood Adv. 2022.

Conferences

CAR T-Cell Therapy: The Patient Perspective

INSPIRED: Insights in Pediatric CAR T-cell Immunotherapy: Recent Advances and Future Directions - March 2023

The Insights in Pediatric CAR T-cell Immunotherapy: Recent Advances and Future Directions Symposium brought together the pediatric and young adult CAR T-cell community to discuss the clinical advances that have been achieved and the challenges that still need to be addressed.

Watch a recording of the entire symposium here.

10 Years of CAR T-cells in POB - July 2022

A banner showing an immune cell celebrating the 10 year anniversary of CAR T cells in POB.

On July 13th, 2022, the POB celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the first patient infused with CD19 CAR T-cells in the Pediatric Oncology Branch. POB staff honored our patients and families and gave talks on key research advancements and milestones in immunotherapy research. Dr. Steve Rosenberg gave the keynote address, "The History of CD19 CAR."

Watch a recording of the symposium here.

CAR T-cell Therapy: Beyond the Storm - May 2020

Held virtually in May 2020, this conference served to bring together leading institutions and investigators focused on pediatric CAR T-cell efforts for an information exchange to specifically focus on other elements of CAR T-cell toxicities, beyond cytokine release syndrome (CRS). One aim was to highlight the biologic underpinnings of various elements of the extended toxicity profile exhibited in patients and compile current approaches and best practices utilized in toxicity mitigation and management strategies. Furthermore, with novel antigens and CAR T-cell targets, this conference helped to establish standardized metrics of monitoring for these comprehensive toxicities as we go beyond B-cell targeting. This conference served to lay the foundation of how to best study these extended outcomes and optimize care for patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy, beyond the storm.

Read the resulting publication: Shalabi H., et al. “Beyond the storm - subacute toxicities and late effects in children receiving CAR T cells.” Nat Rev Clin Onc. 2020.