Predicting a Response to a Cell-Based Immune Modulating Cancer Therapy

Reference #: 2023-016

OTC Contact: Ruchika Nijhara, Ph.D., MBA, CLP (Directory Information | Send a Message)

Invention

Georgetown researchers have designed a novel and innovative that has the potential to serve as a prognostic indicator for CAR-T therapy efficacy in patients. The method uses primary tumor biopsies and CAR- T cells in the zebrafish xenograft model to predict which patients will respond to such therapy before the therapy.

Background

While chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells have emerged as a promising immune therapy for treating multiple types of cancer, over 50% of patients still do not respond to treatment and eventually relapse within six months. Clinicians currently have no way to test the efficacy of CAR-T therapy before prescribing it. Given that the treatment costs about $500,000 a patient and is limited by manufacturing capacity, having a reliable model that can provide prognostic information to clinicians is a game changer in human cancer treatments. CAR-T cell therapy has shown considerable promise for hematologic malignancies. Great efforts are being made to ensure CAR-T cells’ high effectiveness in patients with no other treatment option. Testing CAR-T strategies in mice is expensive, laborious, and slow.

Application

A prognostic method to predict patient responsiveness to CAR-T therapy
Potential use for preclinical evaluation of novel CAR designs containing a small compound-based ON or OFF switch

Advantages

Cost-efficient and fast assay
Overcome limitations of xenogeneic graft-versus-host disease (xeno GVHD)
High throughput (400 embryos)
Small tissue requirement (~100 cells)
Unparalleled in-vivo imaging
Patient-Specific Analysis
Allows the screening for small compounds, acting synergistically with CAR T cells

Stage of Development

Studies are being conducted to develop the imaging modality (fluorescence) and the software image package to analyze fluorescence differences over time.

Patent Status

Provisional application filed.

Inventors

Alexander Lekan

Eric Glasgow