During a press conference at the 2013 ASH Annual meeting, Dr James Kochenderfer presents data from a recent study on donor-derived anti-CD19 chimeric-antigen-receptor-expressing T cells.

This study examined the efficacy and safety of genetically modified T cells as treatment for B cell malignancies (blood cancers that affect the B cells, including certain types of leukaemia and lymphoma) persisting after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The study focused on the use of these carefully designed attack cells in 10 patients who had persistent, aggressive disease after receiving one or more allogeneic HSCTs. Investigators removed T cells from each of the patients’ healthy donors and then, in the laboratory, outfitted them with genetic machinery designed to target a protein expressed on the persisting malignancy (B cell antigen CD19) when infused in the patient.