Newswise — (MEMPHIS, Tenn. – August 5, 2024) Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T–cell immunotherapy re-engineers a patient’s immune cells to target cancer cells. While successful in some types of leukemia, the approach has yet to realize its potential against pediatric solid tumors.
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified a way to improve CAR T–cell homing – a T cell’s ability to navigate effectively to a tumor – for osteosarcoma. Improved homing is a necessary step in designing more successful CAR T–cell therapies.
The results were published today in Clinical Cancer Research , a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer in children and teens. It typically starts in the wide ends of long bones, such as the legs, but can also occur in other bones, such as the pelvis and skull.
Approximately 15-20% of patients with osteosarcoma already have metastatic disease when they are diagnosed, and less than 20% of those with metastatic or relapsed disease survive beyond three years. Treatment for osteosarcoma includes surgery and chemotherapy – approaches that have been a mainstay of care for over 50 years. This underscores the need for novel, more modern therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy.
However, solid tumors present additional challenges that any CAR T–cell technology must overcome to succeed. “Solid tumors are just that, solid – these are hard, dense mas.