Fratricide-resistant CD1a-specific CAR T cells for the treatment of cortical T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

This article reports that the expression of CD1a is mainly restricted to developing cortical thymocytes, and neither CD34+ progenitors nor T cells express CD1a during ontogeny, confining the risk of on-target/off-tumor toxicity. We thus developed and preclinically validated a CD1a-specific CAR with robust and specific cytotoxicity in vitro and antileukemic activity in vivo in xenograft models of coT-ALL, using both cell lines and coT-ALL patient–derived primary blasts. CD1a-CARTs are fratricide resistant, persist long term in vivo (retaining antileukemic activity in re-challenge experiments), and respond to viral antigens. Our data support the therapeutic and safe use of fratricide-resistant CD1a-CARTs for relapsed/refractory coT-ALL.

Source: Blood - May 22, 2019 Category: Hematology Authors: Sanchez-Martinez, D., Baroni, M. L., Gutierrez-Agüera, F., Roca-Ho, H., Blanch-Lombarte, O., Gonzalez-Garcia, S., Torrebadell, M., Junca, J., Ramirez-Orellana, M., Velasco-Hernandez, T., Bueno, C., Fuster, J. L., Prado, J. G., Calvo, J., Uzan, B., Tags: Immunobiology and Immunotherapy, Lymphoid Neoplasia, Clinical Trials and Observations Source Type: research