Chinese Journal of Pharmacovigilance ›› 2025, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (7): 735-741.
DOI: 10.19803/j.1672-8629.20250258

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Research Advances in the Pathogenesis of Cytokine Release Syndrome Induced by CAR-T Cell Therapy

REN Yuke1, JIANG Hua, LI Lulu1, LI Shuangxing1, HUO Guitao1, YANG Yanwei1, ZHANG Di1, HUANG Ying1, GENG Xingchao2, LIN Zhi1,*, QU Zhe1#   

  1. 1National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, National Center for Safety Evaluation of Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Drug Regulatory Science, Beijing Key Laboratory, Beijing Key Laboratory of Quality Control and Non-clinical Research and Evaluation for Cellular and Gene Therapy Medicinal Products, Beijing 100176, China;
    2National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Institute for Biological Product Control, Beijing 102629, China
  • Received:2025-04-27 Online:2025-07-15 Published:2025-07-17

Abstract: Objective To investigate the mechanisms, grading, and management strategies of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy in order to enhance the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy. Methods By reviewing studies currently available, the pathogenesis of CRS was analyzed, involving the key cytokines and signaling pathways before the grading criteria for and clinical approaches to CRS were summarized. Results CRS, a common adverse reaction in CAR-T therapy, involved the activation of cytokines (e.g., IL-6, IL-1, IFN-γ) and signaling pathways (e.g., JAK-STAT, NF-κB). Grading systems that guided clinical interventions were available, but targeted therapies required more optimization. Conclusion A better understanding of CRS mechanisms will facilitate the development of novel targeted drugs while improving the safety/efficacy of CAR-T therapy.

Key words: CAR-T Cell, Cytokine Release Syndrome, IL-6, Pathogenesis, Signaling Pathway, CRS Grading

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