The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has for the immunotherapy afamitresgene autoleuecel (Tecelra, also known as afami-cel) for the treatment of adults with a rare soft tissue cancer called synovial sarcoma.
Afami-cel is the first engineered T cell therapy to receive FDA approval for a solid tumor cancer. The clinical trial that resulted in the drug's approval was led by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) specialist and immunotherapy expert Sandra D'Angelo, MD. "This treatment offers an important new option for people with this rare cancer," Dr.
D'Angelo says. "It is also an important step forward in the development of T for , which has been a major challenge." Other cell therapies, such as , involve targeting surface proteins to recognize and attack a cancer cell.
Until now, these types of immunotherapies have been used only to treat blood cancers. Using engineered cell therapies to treat solid tumors Synovial sarcoma is diagnosed in fewer than 1,000 people in the United States every year. A cancer that can develop in the extremities or in the soft tissue in the abdomen or lung, it most often occurs in young adults.
It is slightly more common in men than in women. "Sarcoma in general, and synovial sarcoma in particular, is a type of cancer where more treatments are desperately needed," Dr. D'Angelo explains.
"Once the disease spreads to other parts of the body, it is very difficult to control with the therapies we have now." T cell receptor therapy targets s.