Yong-Chen William Lu on Adoptive T-Cell Therapy in Solid Tumors

Yong-Chen William Lu, PhD, a fellow in the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, discusses a CD4 T-cell immunotherapy targeting MAGE-A3 that is showing early clinical responses in patients with metastatic cancer.

In this phase I dose-escalation study, researchers investigated the genetically engineering CD4 T cells, which target the MAGE-A3 protein. Eight patients were treated with various doses of the modified CD4 T-cells, ranging from 10 million to 30 billion cells; 6 patients received the highest dose level of 100 billion cells.

Three patients (1 with cervical cancer, 1 with esophageal cancer, and 1 with urothelial carcinoma) responded to the therapy, Lu explains, adding these responses are ongoing. Though such T-cell therapies have elicited responses in hematologic malignancies, Lu hopes that, with this study, patients with solid tumors will be able to benefit from the therapy.

<<<

View more from the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting