New technologies
The meeting featured a variety of high-end technologies that may help scientists to improve CAR T cell therapies. Michael Hudecek (Germany) presented the so-called dSTORM technology platform for super-resolution microscopy. This enables scientists to detect very low amounts of antigen on tumor cells (e.g., CD19 on myeloma cells) and to simultaneously image multiple antigens.
Marine Cazaux (France) showed that in vivo single cell imaging of CAR T cell activity may reveal how CAR T immunotherapy works. Using this technology on Burkitt-like lymphoma cells in mice, the scientists observed functional heterogeneity within the CAR T cell population: less than 20% of CAR T cells was involved in killing tumor cells. In addition, they showed that CD19-negative relapse was seen preferentially in bone marrow rather than lymph nodes, suggesting an influence of the local tumor environment.
Other examples of applying novel technologies in CAR T cell research include
- Lars Wallstabe (Germany) demonstrated how her group uses advanced micro-physiologic 3D tumor models to study ROR1-directed CAR T cells in lung cancer and breast cancer.
- Venugopal Gudipati (Austria) presented a quantitative imaging platform to study CAR functionality. Using this platform, he could demonstrate that attenuated membrane-proximal signaling limits the antigen sensitivity of CAR T Cells.
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