Dr Prasad Adusumilli speaks to ecancer at the 2019 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting about the results from a phase I clinical trial that assessed the safety and efficacy of using regionally delivered autologous mesothelin-targeted CAR T cells to treat malignant pleural disease.

Dr Adusumilli explains the premise of the study - in which the success of CAR T cell therapy in the treatment of solid tumours remains limited.

By creating a second-generation mesothelin-targeted CAR, these agents were administered intravenously to patients with mesothelin-expressing, malignant pleural disease in a dose-escalating clinical trial.

Dr Adusumilli reports that off-target toxicity was not observed in patients during treatment and that a cohort of patients were also given anti-PD1 therapy.

Using this combined therapy approach, a response rate of 72 percent was achieved, with some patients not requiring any additional treatment for up to a year.

He states that these results are encouraging and plans to establish the long- term safety and efficacy of this type of therapy in further clinical trials.

Read more about this research here.