In recent years, cell therapies have developed together with chemotherapy and immunotherapy to become a new pillar in the treatment of patients with blood cancer and lymphatic gland. In solid tumors, such as skin cancer, lung or bone and soft tissues (Sarcomas), they have not yet been demonstrated as a treatment method. Tumor contraction was achieved only in rare cases, but the side effects were even more severe. An international research group led by scientists from the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT/UCC) in Dresden has now been successful in a phase 1 clinical trial to test a new cell therapy approach that is also promising for solid tumors. The results were now published in the magazine Nature Medicine.
In a phase 1 trial that involved 40 patients, the research group investigated the use of TCL cell engineering cells (TCR). Using genetic engineering techniques, the researchers incorporated an objective type of identification in T cells to allow them to recognize specific tumor proteins. The recently tested IMA203 therapy is directed to the Prame peptide, which occurs almost exclusively by tumors and not by healthy tissue. This allows T cells to attack tumor cells in a directed manner without damaging normal cells. Prame is produced by many tumors, such as melanoma, ovarian cancer, sarcomas and lung cancer.
A good half of the treated people who had not responded to standard therapies previously responded to therapy. Most of them even responded for a period of eight months or several years. Compared to chemotherapy, which generally lasts three to six months, this is a significant advance in treatment. Cell therapy was also well tolerated. Side effects such as fever or cutaneous eruption were mostly slight to moderate and only temporary.
“According to these results, we can talk about an advance,” says Professor Martin Wermke, head and first author of the path: “For the first time, we have achieved a lasting response in truly common solid tumors. The efficacy of IMA203 goes far beyond what we can achieve with our current chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments. The relapse of its tumor disease more than two years after receiving IMA203.
In the next step, IMA203 could be used in a larger essay in patients with melanoma who have not responded to conventional immune and directed therapies. Dresden NCT/UCC is testing other cell therapies for other types of skin cancer and lung cancer.