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Driving the CAR to fight acute myeloid leukemia

A multi-institutional team developed a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell-based strategy for specifically targeting AML cells in patients who relapsed following other treatments. The team identified a monoclonal antibody called KG2032 that reacts with a certain variant of the HLA-DRB1 molecule. KG2032 CAR T cells displayed strong anti-AML effects in a mouse model, and CAR natural killer cells showed similar results. Clinical trials are currently being planned.

New strategy may enable cancer monitoring from blood tests alone

A new, error-corrected method for detecting cancer from blood samples is much more sensitive and accurate than prior methods and may be useful for monitoring disease status in patients following treatment, according to a new study. The method, based on whole-genome sequencing of DNA, also represents an important step toward the goal of routine blood test-based screening for early cancer detection.

FDA clears IND for clinical trial testing switchable CAR-T therapy in patients with autoimmune diseases, without chemotherapy

FDA has cleared an investigational new drug (IND) application to study switchable chimeric antigen receptor T cell (sCAR-T) therapy (CLBR001 + SWI019) in patients with autoimmune conditions. Patient recruitment for the phase 1 trial will begin soon (NCT06913608). The phase 1 clinical trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of CLBR001 + SWI019 in patients with myositis, systemic sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, with the potential to expand to other indications in the future.