Dr. Perl on Potential CAR T-Cell Therapies in Hematologic Malignancies

Alexander E. Perl, MD, associate professor of medicine, University of Pennsylvania, discusses potential chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies in hematologic malignancies.

CAR T-cell therapy is being explored in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but investigators have not determined which antigen is best to target, says Perl. There were data presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting looking at CD123 and CD33-directed CARs, and other antigens that are on AML blasts. Perl says that it is hard to define an epitope to design a CAR against that is unique to the leukemia, and that is not shared with normal tissue or hematopoietic cells.

There is interest in other forms of B-cell lymphoma other than diffuse large B-cell lymphoma for which there is already a CAR T-cell therapy approval. Additionally, there is also interest in developing CAR T-cell therapies for multiple myeloma, says Perl.