Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania revved up immune cells that shrank an extremely aggressive type of brain tumor when tested in a handful of patients. The experiments are just first steps but they signal a new strategy to fight hard-to-treat glioblastoma.
A new strategy to fight an extremely aggressive type of brain tumor showed promise in a pair of experiments with a handful of patients.able to recognize and attack glioblastoma. In the first-step tests, those cells shrank tumors at least temporarily, researchers reported Wednesday.. Now separate teams at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania are developing next-generation CAR-T versions designed to get past some of glioblastoma’s defenses.
The immune system's T cells fight disease but cancer has ways to hide. With CAR-T therapy, doctors genetically modify a patient’s own T cells so they can better find specific cancer cells. Still, solid tumors like glioblastoma offer an additional hurdle — they contain mixtures of cancer cells with different mutations. Targeting just one type allows the rest to keep growing.
At Mass General, Dr. Marcela Maus’ lab combined CAR-T with what are called T-cell engaging antibody molecules — molecules that can attract nearby, regular T cells to join in the cancer attack. The result, dubbed CAR-TEAM, targets versions of a protein called EGFR that’s found in most glioblastomas but not normal brain tissue.
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