Chimeric Antigen Receptor News and Research

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NCI gives 'exceptional' rating to Penn's Abramson Cancer Center

The National Cancer Institute has once again rated the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania as "exceptional," the highest possible rating for an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.

4 Aug 2020

First CAR T-cell therapy for mantle cell lymphoma receives FDA approval

Today's Food and Drug Administration approval of the first CAR T-cell therapy for mantle cell lymphoma represents a key advance for patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant forms of the disease, say Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators who helped conduct the decisive clinical trial of the therapy.

24 Jul 2020

Combining two immunotherapies into a single treatment found to be more effective

Some of the most promising advances in cancer treatment have centered on immunotherapies that rev up a patient's immune system to attack cancer. But immunotherapies don't work in all patients, and researchers have been searching for ways to increase their effectiveness.

23 Jul 2020

Research could lead to more efficient cellular immunotherapies for advanced cancers

Adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy is one of the most promising new treatments for people with hard-to-treat cancers.

23 Jul 2020

Promising new CAR T cell therapy results in exceptional patient recovery

In a clinical trial evaluating a novel immunotherapy option for cancer treatment, a child with rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of muscle cancer, that had spread to the bone marrow, showed no detectable cancer following treatment with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells that were engineered to target the HER2 protein on the surface of the cancer cells.

15 Jul 2020

Study identifies possible factors to predict severe toxicities in CAR T patients

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR T) has proved to be a valuable treatment option for patients with lymphoma who have failed other therapies. In clinical trials, the cellular immunotherapy was shown to provide durable remissions for nearly 40% of large B cell lymphoma patients.

15 Jul 2020

Scientists engineer natural killer cells that target tumors and their immunosuppressive allies

Scientists have engineered natural killer immune cells that not only kill head and neck tumor cells in mice but also reduce the immune-suppressing myeloid cells that allow tumors to evade the immune response, according to a new study in eLife.

7 Jul 2020

New NCCN guidelines explain how to recognize and manage immunotherapy-related side effects

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network today announced the completion of the new NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Immunotherapy Side Effects series, with the publication of a book focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. This closely follows the publication of a separate book on immune checkpoint inhibitors, both created with support from the NCCN Foundation®.

1 Jul 2020

Researchers receive innovative grants to understand the biological underpinnings of blood cancers

Seeking to ignite the next major breakthroughs to treat blood cancers, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), The Mark Foundation, and The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group today announced more than $6.75 million awarded to nine of the most exceptional scientists in the field.

1 Jul 2020

Producing CAR T cell therapy at a lower cost

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is a new and in some cases highly effective form of immunotherapy to treat certain types of cancer of the blood and lymph system.

23 Jun 2020

Repurposing immunosuppressants to manage COVID-19

It might seem paradoxical to suggest immunosuppression could play a role in managing COVID-19. The seemingly logical therapeutic option for this disease would be an antiviral.

18 Jun 2020

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $3.2 million to early-career physician-scientists

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named four new Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators.

12 Jun 2020

Adoptive T-cell therapy targeting MAGE-A4 achieves responses in patients with multiple solid tumors

The adoptive T-cell therapy ADP-A2M4, which is engineered to express a T-cell receptor (TCR) directed against the MAGE-A4 cancer antigen, achieved responses in patients with multiple solid tumor types, including synovial sarcoma, head and neck cancer and lung cancer, according to results from a Phase I clinical trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

29 May 2020

More cancer patients could benefit from CAR T-cell therapy, Moffitt study suggests

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR T, has become a game changer for lymphoma and leukemia patients who have relapsed or become resistant to previous treatments.

14 May 2020

Researchers report promising new therapy for recurrent pediatric brain cancers

Two pediatric brain cancers that are challenging to treat if they recur, medulloblastoma and ependymoma, are the target of a clinical trial using a new type of therapy.

27 Apr 2020

Using 'own' immune cells to fight infectious diseases including COVID-19

A provocative paper from Duke-NUS Medical School, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in March 2020, discusses the possibilities of creating new receptors on a sick person's own immune cells as a means of controlling the infection. This therapy is already being used to treat certain cancers with marked success.

22 Apr 2020

Majority of patients with mantle cell lymphoma may benefit from CAR T-cell therapy KTE-X19

A one-year follow-up study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center revealed a majority of patients with mantle cell lymphoma resistant to prior therapies may benefit from treatment with CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

1 Apr 2020

Novel immunotherapy eradicates solid tumors in mice without adverse side effects

Scientists have developed a new immunotherapy that eradicates solid tumors in mice without adverse side effects, according to a new study published today in eLife.

31 Mar 2020

Advancing CAR T-cell therapy for treatment of solid tumors

The full title of the research is "The study of the mechanisms of effectiveness of T-cells CAR-T towards solid tumors"; it was supported by nonprofit RakFond (Cancer Fund) and CyStoreLab (a resident of Skolkovo).

25 Mar 2020

Combination produces more proliferative, enduring central memory T cells for cellular therapy

Treating T cells harvested from a patient with a combination of an epigenetic drug and a cytokine while expanding the cells in the lab re-programs them into a stronger T cell type that persists longer than its comrades, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Cancer Immunology Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.