Recently published preclinical data by City of Hope scientists shows the immunotherapy is effective. Advanced ovarian cancer patients are now being enrolled in a Phase 1 first-in-human trial. There are currently few effective treatment options for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer and other solid tumors, but City of Hope researchers are trying to change that.
Researchers with City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the nation, have published preclinical research in Nature Communications demonstrating that a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cell therapy worked against ovarian cancer in the laboratory and in preclinical models.
The therapy is currently in a first-in-human Phase 1 trial at City of Hope for patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer who have already received platinum-based chemotherapy.
The trial, led by Lorna Rodriguez-Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., City of Hope professor in its Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Surgery, is testing the therapy’s safety, side effects and activity of the therapy in patients. The trial is currently enrolling patients for treatment.
Developing a CAR T cell therapy for solid tumors is particularly challenging because the therapy needs to first reach the solid tumor and then survive in a harsh microenvironment that is filled with cancer cells and other cells that prevent attack by the CAR T cells. But Priceman and his team have made significant progress in overcoming these challenges.