Making CAR-T cell therapy more effective for people with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL)

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) is a type of acute leukaemia that affects specific white blood cells called T-cells. T-ALL is aggressive and progresses quickly with few effective treatments available. If the cancer doesn’t respond to chemotherapy, the disease can return and when this happens, it becomes extremely difficult to treat. Unlike other types of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, T-ALL cannot be treated with CAR-T cell therapy as this form of therapy targets specific features present on the surface of leukaemia cells which are hard to find in T-ALL.

Recent research found a different feature that can be targeted using CAR-T cell therapy for people with T-ALL. In experiments in the lab, targeting this feature destroyed all cancer cells but didn’t manage to get rid of them all. Dr Maciocia has recently identified another feature that he believes could be targeted using CAR-T cell therapy which another clinical trial is currently investigating. However, he believes that to maximise the success of this treatment for people with T-ALL they need to target both features together at the same time and plans to do this in his research.

The hope is that targeting both these features at the same time will ensure all cancer cells are destroyed and reduce the chance of the cancer returning. This could result in a more effective treatment for people with T-ALL, resulting in a better chance of survival.