While CAR T cell therapy has revolutionized treatment for many blood cancers, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), many patients who receive CAR T cell therapy do not experience a long-term remission. For those whose cancers return or become resistant after CAR T cell therapy, the prognosis is poor, with few options left.
A new "armored" form of CAR T cell therapy, developed by Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, may be able to help these patients. According to the results of a Phase I clinical trial, presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 7004), the new CAR T was safe, and had a three-month overall response rate of 80 percent in 20 patients with NHL whose cancers were relapsed or had stopped responding to treatment after receiving a commercially available CAR T cell therapy.
The first-in-human study evaluated huCART19-IL18, an anti-CD19 CAR that was further modified to secrete the pro-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin 18 (IL 18), based on preclinical studies that showed it could enhance CAR T activity.
"We've likened this CAR T to an armored truck or tank because the release of IL 18 further protects the CAR T cells and promotes their ability to attack the cancer cells," said June, whose pioneering research led to the first approved CAR T cell therapy in 2017.
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