Cellectis: Publishes Novel Methods to Improve the Safety of CAR T-Cell Therapy

Cellectis (Euronext Growth: ALCLS; Nasdaq: CLLS), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies based on allogeneic gene edited CAR T-cells (UCART), today announced the publication of a study in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, identifying Granulocyte Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor (GMCSF) secreted by Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cells as a key factor promoting cytokine release syndrome (CRS). The accelerated report leverages these findings to elaborate an innovative engineering strategy that paves the way for developing safer UCART products.

Utilizing these results, Cellectis developed engineered GMCSF Knock-Out CAR T-cells through TALEN®-mediated gene inactivation. The inactivation of GMCSF in CAR T-cells was found to prevent secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines by monocytes, without compromising CAR T-cell anti-tumor activity.

“CAR T-cells have achieved high rates of complete remission in hematological malignancies, however, this ‘living drug’ can show life-threatening inflammatory side effects including CRS and neurotoxicity that need to be addressed,” said Mohit Sachdeva, Ph.D., Innovation Project Leader at Cellectis. “Our engineering strategy circumvents such toxic side effects and propose safer, equally potent UCART-cells, to improve patients’ quality of life during treatment.”

https://www.marketscreener.com/CELLECTIS-42457/news/Cellectis-Publishes-Novel-Methods-to-Improve-the-Safety-of-CAR-T-Cell-Therapy-and-Prevent-CRS-in-t-28234057/