Dr. Summers on Role of CAR T Cells in Pediatric Cancer

Corinne Summers, MD, pediatric oncologist, Seattle Children's Hospital, assistant member, Clinical Research Division, University of Washington Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, discusses the role of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in pediatric cancer.

For the past few years, research with CAR T-cell therapy has taken off in pediatric hematologic malignancies. Since the goal of oncologists is to preserve the long life ahead of these patients, clinical trials have focused on long-term survival and cure rates. CAR T cells augment the body's T cells to activate natural immune response.

A number of CAR T-cell studies presented at the 2018 ASH Annual Meeting demonstrated continued long-term success across pediatric histologies. For example, treatment with the CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) demonstrated sustained rates of relapse-free survival and overall survival at 24 and 18 months for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to updated findings from the phase II ELIANA study.