Regina Myers, MD, MSCE, is an instructor in the Cancer Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Regina Myers, MD, MSCE discusses novel approaches within the context of CAR T-cell therapy to address the challenge of relapse, which is when cancer returns or resists treatment after an initial response. The two main mechanisms of relapse that she focuses on are loss of persistence (the CAR T cells’ ability to remain effective over time) and antigen modulation (changes in the cancer cells that make them less recognizable to CAR T cells).
She mentions various strategies to combat these challenges, such as improving the persistence of CAR T cells through reinfusion and the use of humanized CAR constructs. Additionally, she discusses approaches to overcome antigen escape, including the use of alternative targets (like CART twenty-two) and multi-specific CAR T cells that can target multiple antigens simultaneously.