Heating up tumors could make CAR T therapy more effective, study finds

UCLAZhen GuFINDINGSA preclinical study led by scientists at theUCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that heating solid tumors during CAR T-cell therapy can enhance the treatment ’s success.The researchers found that when a heating technique called photothermal ablation was combined with the infusion of CAR T cells, it suppressed melanoma tumor growth for up to 20 days in mice. Among the mice that were treated with the combination, 33 percent were still tumor free after the 20-day mark.BACKGROUNDT cells that have been genetically engineered with chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, have successfully been used to treat many patients with lymphoma and leukemia. But CAR T cell therapy has been less successful for treating solid tumors because the tumors have a protective microenvironment, which makes it harder for the CAR T cells to break into the tumor and keep the T cells activated.The UCLA scientists decided to test whether combining CAR T therapy with photothermal therapy could overcome that obstacle. Photothermal therapy is a minimally invasive technique that uses heat from laser energy to kill cancer cells; it is already being used to treat a variety of cancers and other medical conditions. The researchers tested a mild hyperthermia of about 40 degrees Celsius (about 104 degrees Fahrenheit) to see if it could help enhance the CAR T cells to better attack the tumor.METHODThe UCLA-led team tested the technique in mice that were injected with human melanoma tumors...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news