{"entity":{"id":"bridging-therapy","kind":"term","name":"Bridging therapy","aka":["bridging","bridging chemotherapy","bridging radiotherapy","bridge to CAR-T","bridge to transplant","bridged","holding therapy"],"tldr":"Treatment given to keep a fast-growing cancer in check during the weeks between deciding on CAR-T (or transplant) and actually receiving it, while the cells are being manufactured or a donor found.","summary":"Aggressive lymphomas and leukaemias can progress or cause organ damage in the 3-6 weeks it takes to manufacture autologous CAR-T cells, so patients often receive bridging chemotherapy, steroids, radiotherapy to bulky sites, or bispecific antibodies; response to bridging and low disease burden at infusion predict better CAR-T outcomes and less CRS. Bridging must avoid drugs that harm T cells before apheresis and be timed so its toxicity has cleared before lymphodepletion. Its necessity is a strong argument for faster manufacturing and off-the-shelf allogeneic products; in the ZUMA-7 trial design, permitting bridging chemotherapy was a point of methodological debate.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimeric_antigen_receptor_T_cell","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimeric_antigen_receptor_T_cell"}],"tags":[],"related":["vein-to-vein-time","lymphodepletion","apheresis","salvage-therapy"],"cancers":[],"sections":["cell-therapy"],"technologies":["car-t","allogeneic-cell-therapy"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["zuma-7"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Treatment jargon"},"route":"/terms/bridging-therapy/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"apheresis","kind":"term","name":"Apheresis (leukapheresis)","route":"/terms/apheresis/"},{"id":"lymphodepletion","kind":"term","name":"Lymphodepletion before CAR-T","route":"/terms/lymphodepletion/"},{"id":"salvage-therapy","kind":"term","name":"Salvage therapy","route":"/terms/salvage-therapy/"},{"id":"vein-to-vein-time","kind":"term","name":"Vein-to-vein time and manufacturing slots","route":"/terms/vein-to-vein-time/"}],"section":[{"id":"cell-therapy","kind":"section","name":"Cell Therapy","route":"/fronts/cell-therapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"allogeneic-cell-therapy","kind":"technology","name":"Allogeneic (off-the-shelf) cell therapy","route":"/technologies/allogeneic-cell-therapy/"},{"id":"car-t","kind":"technology","name":"CAR-T cell therapy","route":"/technologies/car-t/"}],"trial":[{"id":"juliet","kind":"trial","name":"JULIET","route":"/trials/juliet/"},{"id":"zuma-7","kind":"trial","name":"ZUMA-7","route":"/trials/zuma-7/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-belinda-tisagenlecleucel-second-line-nejm-2022","kind":"paper","name":"Second-line tisagenlecleucel or standard care in aggressive B-cell lymphoma","route":"/key-papers/paper-belinda-tisagenlecleucel-second-line-nejm-2022/"}],"idea":[{"id":"lymphoma-ev-manufacturing-time-as-a-trial-endpoint","kind":"idea","name":"Report the time from apheresis to infusion as a trial endpoint, not a logistics footnote","route":"/ideas/lymphoma-ev-manufacturing-time-as-a-trial-endpoint/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"hcc-early","kind":"cancer","name":"Early hepatocellular carcinoma (BCLC 0 and A)","route":"/cancers/hcc-early/"},{"id":"hcc-intermediate","kind":"cancer","name":"Intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma (BCLC B)","route":"/cancers/hcc-intermediate/"}]}}