By Penn Medicine –
The first-of-its-kind Phase I clinical trial uses a CAR T cell therapy modeled after natural killer cells and designed to limit T cell exhaustion.
SAN DIEGO – An innovative type of CAR T cell therapy, called KIR-CAR, was shown to be safe, with increasing efficacy corresponding to higher doses of the investigational treatment in nine patients with advanced ovarian cancer, mesothelioma or cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer), according to an early report from an ongoing Phase I dose-escalation clinical trial. The findings represent the first clinical data for this KIR-CAR, which uses natural killer (NK) cell-like receptors to overcome T cell exhaustion and limit side effects. Janos L. Tanyi, MD, PhD, principal investigator of the multisite STAR-101 Phase 1 Clinical Trial and an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, shared the findings in a Clinical Trials Plenary Session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting (Abstract CT104).
“This is exciting because we’re seeing good efficacy signals, even at low doses, and limited toxicity in cancer types that have never had an approved cell therapy,” Tanyi said. “As we continue enrollment and dose escalation, we hope to see more patients’ tumors responding to the therapy and continued persistence and longevity of the T cells, all with less side effects than conventional CAR T cell therapy.”
