A study published in Experimental Hematology & Oncology found that CAR-NKT cell therapy was more effective than current immunotherapies at fighting endometrial cancer.
The most aggressive subtypes of endometrial cancer, like uterine papillary serious carcinoma, account for a smaller percentage of diagnoses but a disproportionately large percentage of deaths. Recurrence is one of the “greatest challenges,” according to co-senior author Sanaz Memarzadeh, who states that “patients often discover the cancer has returned after undergoing a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.”
The therapy involves NKT cells targeting mesothelin, which is a protein found on endometrial cancer cells. The cells can “precisely detect and destroy tumors through three pathways simultaneously.” The therapy achieved “complete tumor elimination and prolonged survival” in mice, while “conventional CAR-T cells used as a comparison provided only partial, temporary control before tumors returned.”
CAR-NKT cells are also “produced from donated stem cells in a scalable process” and are “naturally compatible with any immune system,” meaning a single donation can “yield enough cells for thousands of treatments.” Mesothelin is also expressed in ovarian, breast, pancreatic, and lung cancers, meaning the same product could hypothetically be used to treat a wide range of tumors.
