CIK CAR T cells in AML
Sarah Tettamanti (Italy) discussed cytokine induced killer cells (CIK) CAR-T cell therapy in AML patients. She explained why AML is a challenging disease: “We don’t have tumor-specific antigens today, so we could have an off-target toxicity. And also, there is an immunosuppressive microenvironment that could lead to tolerance or exhaustion of CAR T cells.”
Tettamanti’s group decided to use CIKs as effector T cells targeting AML. They used the non-viral Sleeping Beauty transposon platform to generate CAR-CIK cells and they targeted CD33 and CD123. These CIK CAR T cells have shown anti-AML activity in preclinical studies. Now, the group is collaborating with scientists from Bergamo to develop cord blood-derived CIK cells from HLA-matched donors as an off the shelf therapy for AML. This approach appears to be feasible and the cells show anti-AML activity. Vincenzo Perriello (Italy) also discussed this topic in a ‘best abstracts’ presentation.
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