Grant: Project Grant

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy targeting CD19, a marker on B cell cancers, is a novel approach that has induced meaningful and durable remissions for many patients and is now considered standard of care therapy in relapsed disease. This therapy is manufactured by isolating cells of the immune system called T-cells from a patient, inserting the 'CAR' gene into the T cell using genetic techniques, growing the cells in a clinical laboratory, and then infusing back into the patient. However, despite the success of CD19 CAR-T cells, only 40-50% of patients have a good long-term outcome. One of the reasons for this is that the cancer 'escapes' CD19 targeting, losing this marker on the surface of the cancer cells. Using our expertise in CAR-T cells, we have designed a novel CAR-T cell therapy targeting a different B cell marker, CD22, for the treatment of patients with B cell cancers, including those who have relapsed after CD19 CAR-T cells. Our research plan is to take this CD22 CAR-T cell therapy into an early phase clinical trial, with a goal of making this a standard therapy for patients in the future.