Role of CAR-T Cells in Mediating Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Remission
Although pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an orphan disease with a low incidence, PDAC’s high mortality rate makes it the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. An international group of researchers hopes a new immunotherapy involving “switchable” CAR-T cells could eventually improve survival or cure patients with advanced PDAC. The switchable CAR-T cells bind to a peptide grafted onto an antibody that allows them to be activated or deactivated. The team harvested immune cells from PDAC patients and used them to cultivate conventional and switchable HER2-targeting CAR-T cells. Mice engrafted with human PDAC cells were injected with either type of CAR-T cell or inactive switches. Five months later, only the mice given CAR-T cells were tumor free. Being able to switch CAR-T cells off should improve safety by reducing off-target effects.
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Reference
Raj D, Yang MH, Rodgers D, et al. Switchable CAR-T cells mediate remission in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Gut. 2018 Aug 18. pii: gutjnl-2018-316595. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2018-316595.
