ACGT Fellow targets gene to improve CAR T-cell therapy.

Sidi Chen, PhD

Sidi Chen, PhD, an Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy Research Fellow, has uncovered a gene that may enhance CAR T-cell therapy.

The associate professor of genetics at Yale University School of Medicine is targeting genes that can supercharge CAR T cells against cancer. CAR T-cell therapy is effective for many patients with blood cancers – which led to the FDA approving six therapies since 2017 – but scientists are still researching how to make effective CAR T cells for solid tumors.

Dr. Chen’s goal is to prevent CAR T cells from becoming exhausted in their fight against solid tumors. Dr. Chen is developing technology to select and edit the strongest cancer-fighting genes. See how his latest research breakthrough may help accomplish this goal.

Research Fellow′s technology can create CAR T cells inside patients.

Matthias Stephan, MD, PhD

The current process for CAR T-cell therapy can take weeks, with patients’ T cells removed, sent to a laboratory, enhanced with a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), sent back to the hospital and infused back into the patients.

Matthias Stephan, MD, PhD, an Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy Research Fellow, is creating a way to speed up the process using injected mRNA to engineer T cells into CAR T cells as they circulate within the body. 

Learn how this method may benefit patients.

More on the ACGT website.

The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy website features additional promising news involving cancer cell and gene therapies. Some of the most recent articles published on acgtfoundation.org are:

• ACGT Scientific Advisory Council member Christine Brown, PhD, leading a glioblastoma clinical trial using two types of cell and gene therapy 
• Scientists creating CAR macrophages as a therapy for solid tumors 
• How doctors are controlling the side effects of CAR T-cell therapy

In the news

The latest from around the cancer cell and gene therapy research world.

Biotech company Nkarta announced preliminary Phase 1 trial results of engineered natural-killer cells (NK cells), showing complete remissions in patients with blood cancers.

Kite receives U.S. FDA approval of a new state-of-the-art CAR T-cell therapy manufacturing facility in Maryland, increasing capacity by 50% to meet patient demand for new cancer therapies.

An mRNA vaccine was combined with CAR T cells that target tumor cells expressing the CLDN6 antigen, a safe and effective combination in early results. The study is led by BioNTech, which also developed the COVID-19 vaccine.