Mayo Clinic research has developed a new type of chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) aimed at killing B-cell blood cancers that have returned and are no longer responding to treatment. This pioneering technology, designed and developed in the lab of Hong Qin, M.D., Ph.D., killed B-cell tumors grown in the laboratory and tumors implanted in mouse models. The preclinical findings are published in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy.
“This study shows our experimental CAR-T cell therapy targets several blood cancers, specifically chronic lymphocytic leukemia,” says Dr. Qin. “Currently there are six different CAR-T cell therapies approved for treatment of relapsed blood cancers. While the results are impressive, not everyone responds to this treatment. Our goal is to provide novel cell therapies shaped to each patient’s individual need.”
Dr Qin’s team developed a cell therapy to target a protein known as B-cell activating factor receptor (BAFF-R) found in patients with B-cell cancers, particularly those with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The BAFF-R protein is linked to tumor growth. The cell therapy under investigation allows the immune system to quash cancer and target tumors that have returned or have resisted available CAR-T cell therapies.
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