Nephrotoxicity in CAR-T cell therapy.

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy is a novel therapy for the treatment of different hematological malignancies. Besides its efficiency, CAR-T cell therapy is associated with significant toxicity, primarily manifested as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity. However, there are reports that CAR-T cell therapy is also nephrotoxic and this aspect attracted so far less attention. In this review, we focus on the incidence and association between CAR-T cell therapy and kidney injury. Here, we describe risk factors, biomarkers, and potential reasons for acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) related to CAR-T cell therapy to shed light on pathomechanisms leading to renal impairment, as well as to the association of kidney failure with other side effects of CAR-T cell therapy. We also review the toxicity of different types of CAR-T cell products, the impact of nephrotoxicity on CAR-T cell therapy efficacy, and the safety of lymphodepletion in patients with baseline AKI or CKD.