Brian Van Tine, MD, PhD, on Looking Ahead on Cell Therapy for Sarcomas

Commentary
Video

The professor of medicine and pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis discussed future challenges and exciting research in the sarcoma field.

“The good news is this has gotten complex. The good news is we're answering these questions. And I think the bad news is that the questions being answered lead to more questions. But the good news is that the partnership and the interest in this field within trying to figure out what goes where and how is really happening now.”

The SPEARHEAD-1 trial (NCT04044768) is assessing afamitresgene autoleucel (afami-cel; AdaptImmune) T-cell receptor SPEAR T-cell therapy in patients with advanced synovial sarcoma (SS) and myxoid/round cell liposarcoma. The trial most recently demonstrated a survival benefit in patients with advanced SS and Van Tine presented these data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023 Annual Meeting, held June 2-6, in Chicago, Illinois.

CGTLive spoke with Brian Van Tine, professor, medicine and pediatrics, Washington University in St. Louis, during July’s Sarcoma Awareness Month to learn more about the future challenges and road ahead for the field of cell therapy in sarcoma. Besides SPEARHEAD-1, he mentioned the potential future findings from the SURPASS clinical trial (NCT04044859) that is also evaluating cell therapy for MAGE-A4–expressing tumors, similarly to the SPEARHEAD-1 trial. He discussed how centers may adapt to being able to accommodate treating sarcoma patients with cell therapy if approved in the future. He also touched on a number of interesting research and findings presented at the ASCO meeting.

REFERENCE
Van Tine BA, Ganjoo KN, Blay JY, et al. The SPEARHEAD-1 trial of afamitresgene autoleucel (afami-cel [formerly ADP-A2M4]): Analysis of overall survival in advanced synovial sarcoma. Presented at: ASCO 2023 Annual Meeting; June 2-6; Chicago, Illinois. Poster #497
Recent Videos
David-Alexandre C. Gros, MD, Eledon’s chief executive officer
Robert Califf, MD, MACC, a cardiologist and former FDA commissioner
Natalie Goedeker, CPNP, on Handling Neuromuscular Gene Therapy at Real-World Sites
David-Alexandre C. Gros, MD, Eledon’s chief executive officer
Michael Flanagan, PhD, chief scientific officer at Avidity
David Barrett, JD, the chief executive officer of ASGCT
David-Alexandre C. Gros, MD, Eledon’s chief executive officer
David Barrett, JD, the chief executive officer of ASGCT
Alfred L. Garfall, MD, MS, associate professor of medicine (hematology-oncology) and director, Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Cell Therapy and Transplant Program, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; and section chief, Multiple Myeloma, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania,
Reena Sharma, MD, an adult metabolic consultant at Salford Royal Hospital
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.