Researchers reveal CAR-enhancer therapy could help overcome cancer relapse

Cancer is estimated to affect more than three million people living in the UK, according to Macmillan Cancer Support

Researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have revealed in a study that CAR-enhancer (CAR-E) therapy could help patients overcome cancer relapse.

In the findings published in Nature Biotechnology, researchers report on a technique to prevent relapse and researchers hope to launch the first trial in the near future.

It is estimated that there are more than three million people living in the UK with cancer, according to Macmillan Cancer Support, with breast cancer being the most prevalent, accounting for more than 55,000 new cases every year.

A common challenge faced when using CAR T-cell therapies is that many patients, including those whose cancer has gone into full remission, eventually relapse.

To eliminate this problem, the new techniques create what researchers consider a CAR-E therapeutic platform, which causes CAR T cells to form a memory of the cancer cell and spring back into action when the cancer reoccurs.

Consisting of a weakened form of the immune-signalling molecule interleukin-2 (IL-2) fused to the antigen that the CAR is designed to bind to, the researchers developed a fully novel therapeutic agent.

Researchers tested CAR-E therapy in laboratory cultures of myeloma cells and in animal models of the disease and found that it brought about the complete clearance of tumour cells.

In addition, researchers discovered that the long-lasting CAR T cells generated by the therapy could be re-stimulated by re-administering CAR-E. This suggests that patients who relapse after CAR T-cell therapy could be effectively treated with additional doses of CAR-E treatment.

Furthermore, CAR-E highlights the potential of patients being treated with smaller numbers of CAR T cells than present, without CAR T-cell expansion processes, as a less time-consuming alternative.

First author of the study, Taha Rakhshandehroo, postdoctoral research fellow, Dana-Farber, commented: “The most exciting part of this therapy is how easily it can be integrated into the care of patients receiving CAR T-cell therapies.

“It’s such an elegant solution to the problem of CAR T-cell depletion. We’re eager to begin testing it in clinical trials.”