Yara Abdou, MD, on the Advantages of CAR Macrophages in Solid Tumors

"Another advantage of macrophages is that they're circulating cells and they migrate out of the blood within hours after the infusion. Therefore, the pro-inflammatory cytokines they released are not causing sustained elevation of cytokines in the blood and we don't see severe cytokine release syndrome with our macrophage therapy.”

A phase 1, first-in-human study is evaluating the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of an anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) macrophage therapy, CT-0508 (Carisma Therapeutics) in solid tumors with HER2 overexpression.

An overview of the study was presented at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy 25th Annual Meeting, May 16-19, 2022, in Washington, DC.by Yara Abdou, MD, assistant professor of oncology at University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

CGTLive spoke with Abdou to learn more about CT-0508 and how CAR macrophage therapies address the challenges of traditional CAR T-therapies in solid tumors. She discussed the progress of the first-in-human, phase 1 study in HER2+ solid tumors.

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REFERENCE

Abdou Y, Yuan Y, Ueno NT, et al. A phase 1, first in human (FIH) study of adenovirally transduced autologous macrophages engineered to contain an anti-HER2 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) in subjects with HER2 overexpressing solid tumors. Presented at: ASGCT 25th Annual Meeting, May 16-19, 2022; Washington DC. Abstract #805