Swati Naik, MBBS, on Investigating CD123-CAR T Therapy for Relapsed AML

"I think that autologous collection is challenging, especially in these patients who have received multiple therapies and are so fragile, it's difficult to collect their cells. So going forward, we are going to have a separate arm in the study, which will be open for patients who previously received a transplant, in which the T cells will be manufactured from the previous transplant donor. Hopefully, that will give us a healthier starting product for the CAR manufacturing.”

CD123-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells demonstrated safety, feasibility, and evidence of clinical activity in pediatric patients with refractory/relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (r/r AML) enrolled in a phase 1 clinical trial (NCT04318678) being conducted at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Updated data from the trial were presented by Swati Naik, MBBS, assistant member, bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy, St. Jude’s, at the 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, held December 10-12, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

CGTLive spoke with Naik to learn more about the potential of CD123-CAR T-cells to help address unmet needs that remain within the population of pediatric patients with r/r AML. She discussed the preliminary safety and efficacy data presented at the conference and next steps going forward with the study.

Click here to read more coverage of the 2022 ASH meeting.

REFERENCE

Naik S, Madden R, Lipsitt A, et al. Safety and anti-leukemic activity of CD123-CAR T cells in pediatric patients with AML: Preliminary Results from a Phase 1 Trial. Presented at: 64th ASH Annual Meeting, December 10-12, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Poster #2003