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Tom van Meerten
dr.

I am a hematologist involved in patient care, clinical and translation research in the field of malignant lymphoma. I focus on translational medicine on diffuse large B cell lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma. My question by all our findings: how does the patient profit or does it help me to treat the patients. The focus of my research group is on DNA repair, cell cycle and cell death. We test novel combinations of existing anti-cancer agents to ultimately improve the treatment of patients suffering from lymphoma. I participate in the organization of new clinical trials both international (European Mantle cell Lymphoma Network) and national (HOVON). Moreover, I am actively involved in clinical trials concerning the application of CAR T cells for patient with lymphoma.

Hyperglycaemia as a predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients receiving an allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Published in: British Journal of Haematology
Access to document 10.1111/bjh.70692 document
Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is an effective treatment for patients with haematological malignancies; however, post-transplant complications, including infections and acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD), remain significant issues. Identifying modifiable risk factors is therefore critical to improve patient outcomes. This retrospective study evaluated the impact of hyperglycaemia on post-transplant outcomes in adult patients undergoing allo-HSCT at the University Medical Centre Groningen between 2018 and 2024. Hyperglycaemia was defined as a glucose level exceeding 10 mmol/L in capillary or venous samples. In total, 575 patients were included. The median age...
Marieke Tienstra, Fleur R Goemans, Kylie Keijzer, Inge V G Oteman, Carin L E Hazenberg, Jaap A van Doesum, Anne G H Niezink, Goda Choi, Gerwin A Huls, Peter R van Dijk, Hilde A M Kooistra, Tom van Meerten, Linde M Morsink
Risk of thrombosis and bleeding following CAR T-cell therapy: Insights from the Dutch “Follow that CAR!” registry
Published in: HemaSphere
Access to document 10.1002/hem3.70433 document
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has significantly improved outcomes in patients with relapsed/refractory aggressive large B-cell lymphoma (R/R LBCL). Although thrombosis and bleeding complications have been increasingly reported, their clinical relevance and risk factors remain unclear, also due to heterogeneity between reporting studies. We investigated the incidence of thrombosis and bleeding in a more homogeneous real-world multicenter cohort by analyzing 250 adults with R/R LBCL who were included in the Dutch “Follow that CAR!” multicenter registry, and all received axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) CAR T-cell therapy. We assessed...
Amica K. Ko, Pim G.N.J. Mutsaers, Lukas M. van Kleij, Amária Vledder, Elise R.A. Pennings, Anne M. Spanjaart, Janneke W. de Boer, Kylie Keijzer, Astrid M.P. Demandt, Jaap A. van Doesum, Suzanne van Dorp, Margot Jak, Maria T. Kuipers, Tom van Meerten, Marjolein W.M. van der Poel, Joost S.P. Vermaat, Frank W.G. Leebeek, Marie J. Kersten, Mandy N. Lauw
A versatile and GMP-compliant bead-based IFN-γ potency assay for standardized quality control and release testing of CAR-T cell drug products
Published in: International Journal of Pharmaceutics: X
Access to document 10.1016/j.ijpx.2026.100559 document
Potency is a critical specification for CAR-T cells and is typically determined by co-culture of CAR-T cells with target cell lines. However, cell line heterogeneity hampers standardization and can lead to analytical variation impacting potency test results. Further, both the assay and cell line maintenance are labor, time, and resource intensive. Here, we developed and validated a versatile, fully standardized, and GMP-compliant CAR-T cell potency assay. This assay utilizes antigen-loaded beads instead of target cell lines and was fully validated for CD19 and qualified for CD7 and HER2...
Robin Dennebos, Macarena González-Corrales, Maria Lysandrou, Nienke A.M. Smit, Yuzhu Qi, Tom van Meerten, Jos G.W. Kosterink, Gerwin Huls, Harm Jan Lourens, Bahez Gareb, Edwin Bremer
Addition of autologous stem-cell transplantation to an ibrutinib-containing first-line treatment in patients aged 18-65 years with mantle cell lymphoma (TRIANGLE): 4·5-year follow-up of a three-arm, randomised, open-label, phase 3 superiority trial of the European MCL Network
Published in: Lancet (London, England)
Access to document 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00362-4 document
BACKGROUND: Adding ibrutinib to standard, first-line immunochemotherapy improves failure-free survival in adult patients aged 18-65 years with mantle cell lymphoma, according to the first results from the TRIANGLE trial. With prolonged follow-up, we investigated whether the addition of autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) to an ibrutinib-containing regimen improves failure-free survival, and evaluated effects on overall survival. METHODS: We conducted a three-arm, randomised, open-label, phase 3 superiority trial (TRIANGLE) in 165 secondary or tertiary clinical centres, with experience in mantle cell lymphoma treatment and the capability to perform ASCT or...
European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network, Martin Dreyling, Jeanette Doorduijn, Eva Giné, Mats Jerkeman, Jan Walewski, Martin Hutchings, Ulrich Mey, Jon Riise, Marek Trneny, Vibeke K J Vergote, Ofer Shpilberg, Maria Gomes da Silva, Sirpa Leppä, Linmiao Jiang, Stephan Stilgenbauer, Andrea Kerkhoff, Ron D Jachimowicz, Georg Heß, Tom van MeertenStefan Wirths, Peter Herhaus, Urban Novak, Judith Dierlamm, Mathias Hänel, Christine Hanoun, Kristina Sonnevi, Carlo Visco, Daniela Donnarumma, Andrés J M Ferreri, Caterina Patti, Piero Maria Stefani, Christiane Pott, Wolfram Klapper, Christian Schmidt, Michael Unterhalt, Tobias Tix, Marco Ladetto, Eva Hoster
Impact of Rituximab Maintenance on Survival in Patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma; a Population-based Cohort Study
Published in: Blood Advances
Access to document 10.1182/bloodadvances.2025018667 document
Newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is commonly treated with rituximab (R) combined with anthracycline-based chemotherapy, with or without autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT). While rituximab maintenance (RM) in clinical trials has been shown to prolong overall survival (OS), its impact at population level remains largely unknown. This study evaluates the effect of RM on outcome of patients with MCL. Patients aged ≥18 years diagnosed with MCL between 1989-2020 were identified using the Netherlands Cancer Registry, and categorized into periods reflecting R and RM implementation (1989-2000, 2001-2014, 2015-2020). Treatment...
Floriske G Stedema, Mirian Brink, Francien Huisman, Rozemarijn Van Rijn, Aniko Sijs-Szabo, Inger S Nijhof, Arjan Diepstra, Vibeke K J Vergote, Gwendolyn van Gorkom, Thijs W H Flinsenberg, Gerwin A Huls, Tom van Meerten, Jeanette Doorduijn, Wouter J Plattel, Marcel Nijland