Dr. Shah on Future Directions With CAR T-Cell Therapy in Multiple Myeloma

Nina Shah, MD, a hematologist and oncologist, and an associate professor of medicine, Department of Medicine, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses potential future directions with CAR T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma.

Although BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy has been a welcome addition to the multiple myeloma armamentarium, multiple myeloma remains an incurable malignancy, says Shah. As such, developing novel strategies to expand upon the responses demonstrated with BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy is intriguing, Shah explains.

For example, studies are evaluating targets for CAR T-cell therapy beyond BCMA, such as GPRC5D, Shah says. Additionally, dual-targeted CAR T-cell therapy directed toward both CD38 and BCMA or CD19 and BCMA may have clinical utility in multiple myeloma, Shah adds.

Moreover, studies are underway to evaluate novel ways to culture CAR T-cell therapy in order to elicit a memory T-cell response, Shah says. This could potentially improve persistence of treatment and duration of response, Shah explains. Allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy is also an intriguing approach that may improve patients’ access to therapy since they will not have to undergo apheresis prior to infusion, Shah concludes.