One of the main limitations of CAR-T cells is that the cells are taken from the patient and have to be customized for treatment. This forces patients to wait for their cells to be modified for infusion, which is precious time they may not have. Research has demonstrated a new advance that could allow standard CAR T cells supplied by healthy donors to be used and stored to be ready as soon as the patient needs them. The research has identified a way of modifying donor CAR T cells, known as allogeneic CAR T cells, so that they are accepted by the patient who receives them and persists to fight cancer. The new approach involves equipping CAR T cells with a protein called Nef. This protein has been identified in HIV and is used to evade detection by the immune system. It acts in two ways: it reduces a protein called HLA-I on the surface of CAR-T cells and helps prevent cell suicide called apoptosis in CAR-T cells. The researchers showed that inserting Nef into donor CAR-T cells enabled the cells to survive and remain effective in a mouse cancer model.
