CAR-M therapy is first used in human research

A few days ago, Carisma Therapeutics announced that it has completed the first patient administration of its chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) therapy CT-0508 in a phase I multi-center clinical trial.

CAR-M therapy is similar to CAR-T therapy, but with macrophages as the center, it is necessary to extract macrophages from the patient itself, and introduce CAR into macrophages through genetic engineering methods to ultimately achieve tumor killing.

Compared with immune cells such as T cells and NK cells, macrophages may infiltrate tumors more easily in the immunosuppressive microenvironment, providing new opportunities for tumor immunotherapy .

Carisma Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company founded by a star scientist at the University of Pennsylvania and the participation of CAR-T pioneer Carl June, has always attracted the attention of the industry.

CT-0508 combines a series of key features that can successfully treat solid tumors, including the ability to recruit and enter solid tumor TME, maintain anti-tumor phenotype in the presence of immunosuppressive factors, and activate adaptability by presenting phagocytosed tumor material The ability of immune response, etc.

CT-0508, a clinical trial carried out at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina, plans to recruit 18 patients with recurrence or metastasis of HER2-positive solid tumors.

In addition, in addition to HER2, Carisma has also developed CAR-M therapies targeting PSMA and mesothelin, both of which are currently in the preclinical stage.

Based on the curative effect of CAR-T therapy in hematoma, more and more researchers, while diversifying CAR-T targets, also set their sights on other cells, thus deriving CAR-NK and CAR- A series of new cell therapies with CAR as the core, such as M, CAR-Treg, etc.