January 2022 debuted Reshmi Parameswaran's novel B-cell activating factor (BAFF) CAR T product effective at killing multiple B-cell cancers with robust in vitro and in vivo cytotoxicity exerted by these cells against mantle cell lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
This approach by Case CCC's Immune Oncology Program member Parameswaran, MD, PhD, and her team has now become the basis for the Phase I BAFF CAR T clinical trial, led by Leland Metheny, MD, for patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Metheny also is a member of Case CCC's Immune Oncology program.
"Primary objectives of the study will evaluate for a safe dose and provide the initial signal of the activity of BAFF CAR T-cells against relapsed myeloma using a manufacturing process that could be replicated in multiple academic institutions with the appropriate cellular manufacturing facilities," Metheny says.
The new multiple myeloma trial will recruit up to 20 patients with relapsed or refractory myeloma and three or more prior lines of therapy, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, and be conducted at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.