Investigational CAR T-Cell Therapy in Relapsed Multiple Myeloma
Posted: Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Encouraging results were seen with an investigational approach using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy to target the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) in patients with multiple myeloma who had relapsed and were resistant to other therapies, according to data presented by Adam Cohen, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and colleagues, at the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 505). CART-BCMA, a specifically engineered type of CAR T cell, modifies patients’ immune T cells to seek and destroy cells that express BCMA.
In this clinical trial, 15 heavily pretreated patients (with a median of 7 prior lines of therapy) were given a single dose of chemotherapy before the CART-BCMA infusion. Two dose levels of CART-BCMA cells were tested.
The lower dosage group included five patients, two of whom (40%) achieved at least a minor response to the treatment. The higher dosage group had ten patients, eight of whom (80%) had a minor response or better, including one complete response. The trial is ongoing, with additional patients receiving the higher dose.
“All of these data indicate BCMA is an attractive target in refractory myeloma, and our hope is that combining the CAR T cells with chemotherapy will increase the expansion and persistence of the CAR T cells, though longer follow-up is needed to assess this,” Dr. Cohen reported in a Penn Medicine press release.
