Achieving Remission in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia With CD4+ CAR T-Cells: Jan Joseph Melenhorst, PhD

This content originally appeared on our sister site, OncLive.

OncLive spoke with Jan Joseph Melenhorst, BSc, MS, PhD, translational immunologist, research professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Graduate Group Affiliations, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, to learn more about the persistence of CD4+ CAR T-cells in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and the ability of these cells to induce remissions in patients.

CART-19 is , a CD19-redirected CAR T-cell therapy that was evaluated in a phase 1 study. Two evaluable patients with CLL were in remission or being cured of their disease with the treatment, Melenhorst said. Moreover, the study applied novel technologies to understand every individual cell at a detailed level, Melenhorst added.

Knowledge of the cells’ health status was obtained, revealing whether the cells were exhausted, activated, or proliferating killer cells, Melenhorst continues. Moreover, the findings showed that the CD4+ T cells exhibited features of memory, proliferation, and cytolytic activities, which seem to be compartmentalized in the population, Melenhorst concluded.