Base Edited CAR Ts Show Off-The-Shelf Promise for T

A first-in-class clinical trial has supported the feasibility of using “ready-made” CAR T cells to fight T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

The Phase I study is a step towards using this form of immunotherapy to move patients into remission if leukemia has returned or not responded following chemotherapy, so they can receive a bone marrow transplant.

The findings are reported in the New England Journal of Medicine and are also being presented this week at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.

These ‘ready-made’ CAR T cells are produced by base editing donor T cells, removing existing receptors to create universal cells that don’t require matching to recipients.

Next-generation genome editing precisely modifies their DNA, with the resulting