Are Five Targets Better Than One? Using CTLs To Seek and Destroy
This immunotherapy treatment uses cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) for the first-time for children with neuroblastoma. CTLs are the killer T-cells of the immune system whose role is to seek out and destroy abnormal cells.
Project Title: Phase I Clinical Trial of Tumor Associated Antigen-Specific CTLs for Neuroblastoma
Researcher: Chris DeRenzo, MD
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Study Type: Phase 1 Clinical Trial
Status: Ongoing
This immunotherapy treatment uses cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) for the first-time for children with neuroblastoma. CTLs are the killer T-cells of the immune system whose role is to seek out and destroy abnormal cells. CTL cellular therapy uses a patient’s own CTLs that are engineered to target known antigens on neuroblastoma.
Since CT antigens are very immunogenic and highly restricted to NB tumors and not on normal tissue, they are ideal targets for tumor-specific immunotherapeutic approaches. The Baylor team has engineered the CTLs to target five different CT antigens found on neuroblastoma.
These specific-CTLs have the potential for significant clinical efficacy for high-risk solid tumors like neuroblastoma because of the multi-target engineering and can overcome the problem of antigen escape variants by including this broad tumor antigen-specific T-cell repertoire.
To learn more about this trial, visit clinicaltrials.gov
Charity Partners: Pierce Phillips Charity