Medically reviewed by Dr. Brian Koffman
The Bottom Line:
SC291 is an experimental CAR-T cell therapy made from healthy donor T cells, and it is being tested in an ongoing Phase I clinical trial.
Who Performed the Research and Where Was it Presented:
Dr. Nitin Jain from MD Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues presented the results at the American Society for Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting 2023.
Background:
Chimeric antigen T cell receptor (CAR-T) therapy is a cellular immune treatment that takes T cells (a type of white blood cell) from a patient’s blood and reengineers them to recognize and attack cancer cells. While CAR-T therapy has been approved for treating several other leukemias and lymphomas, it has not worked as well for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the past. It is not yet an approved therapy for CLL.
CAR-T may not work as well in CLL because the T cells of CLL patients are “exhausted” and dysfunctional. If the starting cells are not working well, the CAR-T therapy may be less effective.
This issue has led researchers to explore allogeneic CAR-T therapy, in which the T cells come from a healthy donor rather than the patient themselves. Allogeneic CAR-T therapy is easier from a logistical standpoint because the CAR-T cells can be made ahead of time in larger batches for multiple patients and then stored. However, the major risk is that the patient’s immune system will destroy them because they are cells from a different person.
Methods and Participants:
This is a Phase I clinical trial evaluating the safety of SC291, an allogeneic CAR-T cell product that has been genetically engineered to avoid recognition and destruction by the patient’s immune system. Hopefully, these modifications will help the CAR-T cells last longer and thus be more effective. The trial is currently enrolling patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell cancers.
Results:
- It is still early on, and there is initial data from the first patient in the study.
- The first patient was a 74-year-old male with CLL, and he had received three prior lines of therapy (FCR chemoimmunotherapy, ibrutinib, and venetoclax plus rituximab).
- By day 30, the patient experienced partial remission (>50% reduction in lymph node size and blood counts).
- There was a 99% reduction in B-cells.
- SC291 was well tolerated, with no observed cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity.
Conclusions:
SC291 is an experimental CAR-T cell therapy that is made from healthy donor T cells, and it is being tested in an ongoing Phase I clinical trial. This trial is still ongoing, and if you are interested in participating, more information can be found here: Study Evaluating SC291 in Subjects With r/r B-cell Malignancies (ARDENT)
Links and Resources:
Watch the interview on the abstract here:
You can read the actual ASH abstract here: Phase 1 Study of SC291, a Hypoimmune, Allogeneic CD19-Directed CAR T Cell Therapy for Relapsed/Refractory B-Cell Malignancies (ARDENT) – Initial Clinical Data.
Take care of yourself first.
Ann Liu, PhD
