The second generation of cancer fighters
A group from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center conducted a clinical trial involving 17 patients, in which they proved the effectiveness and safety of the new CAR T therapy for the treatment of patients with recurrent and resistant to other treatments for multiple myeloma.
Previously, immunotherapy with CAR T cells targeting BCMA (B cell maturation antigen,), a protein characteristic of B lymphocytes, was approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma. It has shown high efficacy, but many patients relapse. In the new study, CAR–T cells were targeted at a G-protein coupled receptor (G protein-coupled receptor, class C group 5 member D, GPRC5D). The GPRC5D protein is poorly understood, its role in the normal life of cells is unclear. However, when researchers studied the surface of cancer cells in search of a potential target, GPRC5D was especially plentiful. This type of immunotherapy has previously shown its effectiveness in vitro on myeloma cells and on animal models of the disease, including forms resistant to anti-BCMA CAR-T therapy.
The clinical study involved 17 people who had previously received an average of six courses of therapy for multiple myeloma, including several patients who received CAR T therapy aimed at BCMA. Four doses of second-generation CAR T therapy were tested.
The study showed that the treatment is generally safe. Side effects were similar to anti-BCMA CAR T therapy. 15 participants had cytokine release syndrome, a common consequence of CAR T therapy. In all cases, except one (in the patient who received the highest of the tested doses), the cytokine release syndrome was mild or moderate in severity. Two patients receiving the highest dose had a toxic reaction from the cerebellum. Not a single patient died from adverse events associated with treatment.
70.6% of patients (12 participants) responded to treatment and showed a marked decrease in cancer cells. Six had a complete answer – no detectable tumor. In two patients, the reaction to therapy persisted for more than one year after the course of treatment.
Article by S.Mailankody et al. GPRC5D-Targeted CAR T Cells for Myeloma is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, CAR T-Cell Therapy Proves Effective in First Trial in Patients with Resistant Multiple Myeloma.