Roswell Park Offering CAR T Trial for Autoimmune Conditions

While most CAR T-cell therapies and clinical trials are directed at cancers, a new phase 1 trial at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is open and recruiting patients with a variety of autoimmune conditions.

Led by Alicia Lieberman, MD, MS, a rheumatologist and researcher at Roswell Park, the trial is recruiting patients with systemic lupus, lupus nephritis, systemic sclerosis, inflammatory myositis, stiff person syndrome and ANCA vasculitis.

The premise of the trial is to “achieve a deep immune reset and gain better control, hopefully long term, for refractory autoimmune conditions,” Dr. Lieberman says.

In this trial, patients will be treated with chemotherapy and then an “infusion of novel CD20-directed CAR T-cell therapy,” she explains. “This is the only trial in the U.S. open for this product. The cells are also unique in that they are gamma-delta T-cells, which are good at homing to both inflamed tissues and lymph nodes. They are observed to secrete fewer inflammatory cytokines,” a response that is consistent with the use of the same CAR T cells used in treating lymphoma.