Efsun Somay¹*, Sibel Bascil², Erkan Topkan³ and Ugur Selek⁴

¹Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey
²Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey
³Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Adana, Turkey
⁴Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey

*Corresponding Author: Efsun Somay, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.

Received: September 04, 2025; Published: September 10, 2025

Abstract

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is a significant breakthrough in immunotherapy for patients with relapsed or refractory blood cancers, showing high remission rates and longer survival times. While the effectiveness of this treatment is well established, it also has a distinct toxicity profile marked by side effects such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS), which have been closely examined in both clinical studies and real-world settings. On the other hand, oral toxicities linked to CAR T-cell therapy are less reported, raising concerns about how common they are and their clinical importance. New research indicates that oral issues like mucositis, opportunistic infections, dry mouth (xerostomia), taste disturbances (dysgeusia), and bad breath (halitosis) may result from indirect effects such as systemic inflammation, severe immunosuppression, decreased blood cell counts, and possible off-target immune responses affecting oral tissues. These oral side effects can significantly affect nutrition, communication, and overall quality of life, while also increasing the risk of systemic infections in this immunocompromised group. Due to limited research in this area, this review aims to compile the small but growing evidence on oral side effects related to CAR T-cell therapy and explore the possible biological mechanisms connecting immune responses to oral complications.

Keywords: CAR T-Cell Therapy; Oral Toxicity; Mucositis; Xerostomia; CRS; ICANS

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Citation

Citation: Efsun Somay., et al. “Oral Toxicities Following CAR T-Cell Therapy: An Overlooked Clinical Reality".Acta Scientific Dental Sciences 9.10 (2025): 15-28.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Efsun Somay., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.