A CAR-T immunotherapy drug for the treatment of lymphoma – a type of blood cancer that begins in the cells of the lymphatic system – and which has been developed at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona has managed to eliminate completely cancer in half of the patients who have participated in the drug’s phase I clinical trial. Despite the good results, this is the first study in which the new therapy is tested, so it is still a few years before it can be used in clinical practice.
CAR-T therapy consists of modifying the body’s own T cells (a type of key white blood cell in the immune system) so that they are capable of finding and destroying cancer cells. The CAR-T designed in Sant Pau is a medicine made from a type of T lymphocyte called the patient’s own memory T, very effective cells that are generated after a primary infection and are responsible for defending the body against infections successive episodes of the same pathogen.
“We select these memory T lymphocytes from the same patient and we will provide them with a weapon that, every time it detects one of these CD30 antigens, which are expressed by lymphoma tumor cells, eliminates them. Thus, in this way and in a perpetual way in the patient’s body, a ‘detector and eliminator’ would remain of any lymphoma cell that reappeared. In short, it is the genetic modification of the T lymphocytes of the same patient so that they attack cancer cells”, explained Dr. Javier Briones, head of the Clinical Hematology Unit at Hospital de Sant Pau, who leads this research project.
Great efficacy and safety to combat lymphoma
CAR30 memory T cells (HSP-CAR30) have shown an excellent safety profile and preliminary data show very high efficacy, with 50% of 10 patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and T-cells refractory to all conventional treatments approved that have participated in the study had a complete response to treatment with the disappearance of lymphoma. These magnificent results are the basis for carrying out the Phase II study, whose patients have already begun receiving treatment at the Hospital de Sant Pau.
“We select these memory T lymphocytes from the same patient and we will equip them with a ‘weapon’ that, every time it detects one of these CD30 antigens, those expressed by the lymphoma tumor cells, eliminates them”
Regarding when this new drug could be available, Dr. Briones stated in an interview with Hora 14 that they have just started phase II. “Phase I focuses on showing that it is safe and that it can be effective. But we are going to have to spend at least two more years to recruit the 20 or 30 patients we need. And, if it is confirmed, maybe three years from now we can announce that it can be used.”
The patients who have participated in Phase I of the trial of this advanced therapy, approved by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) come from different Spanish autonomous communities (Catalonia, Andalusia, Asturias, Galicia, Castilian and Leon, Valencia, Madrid and the Basque Country) and other European countries (Italy, Austria and Poland). The results of this study have been presented at the prestigious Congress of the European Society of Hematology (EHA2022 Congress) that is being held in Vienna this week.
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