The conference themed «Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of Lymphatic Cancers» was held at Almazov Centre on 18 October 2023 as part of the «Fight Against Cancer» programme.
The conference was attended by leading haematologists of Almazov Centre: R. Badaev, Senior Researcher at the Immuno-Oncology Research Laboratory; E. Lomaia, Senior Researcher at the Immuno-Oncology Research Laboratory; Yu. Alekseeva, Head of Department of Chemotherapy for Haematologic Malignancies and Bone Marrow Transplantation; and A. Petrov, Expert Haematologist.
The conference brought together doctors who help patients with lymphatic cancers and was available online.
Discussions were centered around topical issues of bone marrow transplantation in lymphoproliferative disorders and challenging cases that have no clear solution. The problems of selecting chemotherapy regimens as part of pretransplant conditioning were highlighted.
Various options of post-transplant immunosuppressive therapy were discussed, including those aimed at preventing graft-versus-host disease. Particular attention was paid to regimens using new agents, especially JAK inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies. Up-to-date data on the treatment of difficult-to-treat diseases such as central nervous system lymphoma were analysed. In this lymphoma, autologous transplantation, in which haematopoietic stem cells are taken from the patient, plays an important role in the consolidation phase of treatment.
One of the presentations was dedicated to modern treatments for multiple myeloma. The timing and indications for new immunotherapy options such as CAR-T therapy and the use of bispecific antibodies were discussed. The use of CAR-T therapy is currently one of the newest treatment modalities for patients with multiple myeloma. This treatment is based on the modification of lymphocytes to enhance the immune response against tumour cells, making it similar to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Delivering CAR-T therapy to a patient requires expertise in dealing with the complications that may occur during therapy (neurological complications, cytokine release). Some foreign drugs for CAR-T therapy have already included in international guidelines.