Single-day nonactivated IL-18-armed CAR T cells establish a durable, stemlike state with enhanced persistence - PubMed
2 hours ago
- #Cancer Immunotherapy
- #IL-18 Cytokine
- #CAR T-Cell Therapy
- Single-day nonactivated CAR T cells engineered to secrete IL-18 (CART-IL18) show robust anti-tumor efficacy in lymphoma, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer models.
- IL-18 expression enhances CAR T-cell persistence, metabolic fitness, and resistance to exhaustion, with upregulation of IL7R, KLF2, MCL1 and suppression of PDCD1, TOX, HAVCR2.
- Metabolomic profiling reveals improved mitochondrial bioenergetics, including increased spare respiratory capacity and accumulation of α-ketoglutarate, malate, and spermine.
- This activation-free CAR T product aims to reduce manufacturing time (vein-to-vein) while improving potency and persistence, supporting clinical testing for refractory tumors.