A new CAR T-cell therapy for people with multiple myeloma has been successfully created and tested in cell-based experiments and a mouse model, a study reported.
This therapy targets a protein called CD229, produced on the surface of both myeloma cells and cancer stem cells — the source of treatment-resistant cells that may lead to disease recurrence — potentially providing long-lasting responses.
The study, “CD229 CAR T cells eliminate multiple myeloma and tumor propagating cells without fratricide,” was published in Nature Communications.
Immunotherapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy — which activates a person’s own immune system to fight their cancer — has successfully treated many types of blood cancers, including multiple myeloma.