Engineering immune cell therapy for GD2-Positive Paediatric Solid Tumours
- amanda0955
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
A small project grant to generate pre-clinical data has been made to:
Dr Ashley Vardon, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, Institute of Cancer and Genomic sciences, University of Birmingham.
CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that takes the patient’s immune T-cells, and modifies them to recognise specific proteins present on tumour cells, then infuses them back into the patient to attack cancer cells.
Although it has been very successful in treating blood cancers, CAR T-cell therapy is yet to achieve the same results and durable responses in solid tumours.
However, CAR T-cell therapy has emerged as a promising treatment option for diffuse midline glioma (DMG) and neuroblastoma (NB). These are both hard-to-treat tumours with high relapse rates after intensive therapy.
In both tumours, the CAR T-cells target the GD2 protein on the tumour surface. The treatment has already shown good results in a small number of patients with DMG and NB, and is considered a safe treatment option.
In H3 K27M-mutated DMG, clinical improvement, reduced tumour volume and neurological improvements have been reported in some patients. Despite the promising initial results, the risk of relapse caused by treatment resistance exists in these cancers.
An alternative treatment strategy is to target senescent cells which are created during radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment and found in DMG tumours following radiotherapy. Senescent cells are unable to multiply but also don’t die, and by suppressing the immune system, they promote tumour relapse.
This small project grant for preclinical study will explore a new type of immune cell therapy and test if they can safely and effectively control tumour growth and crucially prevent relapse by targeting senescent cells.
Family Funding Collaboration
The funding awarded to the University of Birmingham has been coordinated by Abbie's Army and raised by family supporter group Billy's Battalion
We're grateful to all those who continue to donate generously in memory of Billy Thompson.
Publications of CAR T-cell therapy targeting GD2:
Antitumor activity without on-target off-tumour toxicity of GD2-chimeric antigen receptor T cells in patients with neuroblastoma
Karin Straathof et al
GD2-CAR T cell therapy for H3K27M-mutated diffuse midline gliomas
Robbie G. Majzner et al
Intravenous and intracranial GD2-CAR T cells for H3K27M+ diffuse midline gliomas
Michelle Monje et al
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