CAR-T cells Armored with Mini PD-1 Antibody Exhibit Stronger Anti-Tumor Efficacy
Recently, scientists from the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center announced that
they have established the latest engineered cells with powerful efficiency, which
combine chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) -T cells and checkpoint inhibitors, the two most
potential immunotherapies, to effectively fight against solid tumors. This groundbreaking study
was co-authored by Eureka Therapeutics and MSK, led by Dr. Liu Cheng and Dr. Renier
Brentjens, and published in Nature Biotechnology on August 13, 2018.
CAR-T that secretes PD-1 antibody directly
Despite significant success in treating certain hematological cancers, so far, CAR-T cells don’t
have enough ability to eliminate solid tumors. Meanwhile, checkpoint inhibitors have proven to
be much effective in enhancing the immune system against various solid tumors, but such
therapies may produce severe immune-related side effects.
Dr. Renier Brentjens, director of the MSK Cell Therapy Center and one of the pioneers of CAR
treatment, said: “Take a step back, we focused on bettering CAR-T cells and so tried to combine
two promising methods.” By designing checkpoint inhibitors directly into CAR-T cells, the MSK
team believes CAR-T’s powerful immunostimulatory capabilities can be used to limit the side
effects of these drugs.
The newly designed CAR-T cells secrete a mini-version of checkpoint blocking antibodies, which
are similar to the approved PD-1 antibody drugs nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab
(Keytruda). This antibody binds to a protein called PD-1, which is equivalent to the brake protein
