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Cellular Therapies Program

CAR T-Cell Therapy for Lymphoma

  • Caron Jacobson, MD, at a computer

    Caron Jacobson, MD, is involved in clinical trials of CAR T-cell therapies for patients with a type of lymphoma.


  • CAR T-cell therapy is a promising treatment for some patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that has relapsed or has not responded to other therapies (refractory). It is a highly-specialized therapy that involves genetically modifying a patient's own T cells to attack their cancer. The FDA has approved several CAR T-cell therapies for lymphoma. Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center is one of the first centers to make the FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies available as standard of care to patients who have not had effective treatment options. CAR T-cell therapies are FDA approved for:

    • Aggressive relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma including diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma, and transformed follicular lymphoma.
    • Relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma
    • Relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma

    Our program also offers patients clinical trials of CAR T-cell therapy for other forms of lymphoma as well as trials of CAR T-cell therapy earlier in treatment and in combination with other immunotherapies.

    Patients are evaluated carefully to determine if this therapy is appropriate for them. Learn more about CAR T-cell therapy.

    Key Eligibility Criteria for CAR T-Cell Therapy for Lymphoma

    Patients who meet the following eligibility criteria may be appropriate for CAR T-cell therapy:

    • Confirmed diagnosis of DLBCL, primary mediastinal large B cell lymphoma, high grade B-cell lymphoma, or transformed follicular lymphoma to DLBCL that has relapsed or not responded to at least two prior lines of systemic therapy, if the initial response to first-line therapy was longer than 12 months. Patients with these diagnoses who do not achieve remission or relapse within 12 months of first-line therapy are eligible for CAR T as a second-line therapy.
    • Confirmed diagnosis of follicular lymphoma that has relapsed or not responded after two prior lines of treatment.
    • Confirmed diagnosis of mantle cell lymphoma that has either not responded to, or relapsed after first line of therapy

  • Related Links


  • Caron Jacobson, MD, detailed the research that led to FDA approval of CAR T-cell therapy for mantle cell lymphoma in July 2020.

  • Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center logo

  • Contact Information for CAR T-Cell Therapy

    For more information about CAR T-cell therapy, please call 877-801-CART (2278).

  • Pediatric CAR T-Cell Therapy

    Dana-Farber/Boston Children's is a certified treatment center for providing the recently FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy called KYMRIAH® to patients who are up to 25 years old with second or later relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).


  • Caron Jacobson, MD, Medical Director of the Immune Effector Cell Therapy program, discussed the first approval of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for certain patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in October 2017.