Description:

This session will focus on the latest clinical information and the most promising ongoing research in the field of adoptive transfer of unmodified or genetically engineered antigen-specific T cells in therapy of hematologic malignancies. These techniques have demonstrated recent astonishing promise. The goal of T cell engineering is to rapidly generate potent and specific immune responses. Our increasing knowledge in this area is creating new opportunities for much more effective therapeutic interventions.

Dr. Dirk Busch will discuss the generation of cell products with more predictable efficacy and safety profiles. These require not only the definition of optimal targets and antigen receptors but also the differentiation status of transferred T cells becomes a crucial parameter for robust and long-term maintained responses. Clinical purification of defined T cell subsets and the implementation of safeguards are promising strategies to further improve adoptive immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer.

Dr. Michel Sadelain will describe second-generation chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), which provide both T cell activating and costimulatory signals, account for the striking results recently obtained in B cell malignancies, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia. CAR therapy is applicable in principle to a broad range of cancers, which will require thoughtful target selection and further optimization of CAR design and combination therapy.

Dr. Crystal Mackall will address the development of CD19 negative relapses that have been seen with some frequency in lymphoblastic leukemia patients. Differences also exist in the persistence of the CD19-CAR T cells. This presentation will discuss most recent clinical results using CD19-CAR T cells for B-ALL, discuss potential reasons for loss of persistence and will review early results using CD22-CAR T cells for B-ALL.