Removing immune 'brake' improves CAR T-cell therapy for pediatric bone cancer
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered that removing the gene for Regnase-1 from engineered immune cells makes them more effective at treating relapsed osteosarcoma. There is a great clinical need for new therapies for childhood osteosarcoma, for which there are very few effective treatments for relapsed disease. The approach improved the cells' ability to control…
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found that removing the Regnase-1 gene from engineered immune cells can enhance the effectiveness of CAR T-cell therapy for pediatric bone cancer. Childhood osteosarcoma has few effective treatments for relapsed disease, making this an urgent clinical need. In preclinical models, CAR T cells without the Regnase-1 gene were able to control tumor growth and prevent spread to the lungs, showing promise for a new early-phase clinical trial.
CAR T-cell therapy boosts a patient's immune cells to attack cancer, but its effectiveness against solid tumors like osteosarcoma is limited due to the tumor's suppressive microenvironment. By removing the Regnase-1 gene, which acts as an immune function "brake," the modified CAR T cells were able to overcome these barriers and improve their anticancer effects.
The study, published in Cell Reports Medicine, suggests that the approach could lead to a systemic solution for improving immunotherapies in children facing cancer.
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