Medical College of Wisconsin Release: CAR-T Cell Immunotherapy Clinical Trial Cancer Patient in Remission; First-in-the-World Cancer Treatment Shows Promise

Collaborative Effort Leads Innovative Personalized Cancer Treatment

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Physicians and clinical researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), Froedtert Hospital, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, and BloodCenter of Wisconsin have successfully used a new immunology treatment, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, to extend the life of a 52-year-old Wisconsin man.

Bret C., 52, of Appleton, Wis., is the first patient to participate in this novel clinical trial. He was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, in 2011. Despite chemotherapy, stem cell transplants, medications and other clinical trials, his cancer kept returning. When presented with the dual-targeted CAR-T cell immunotherapy clinical trial option in late 2017, just weeks after a similar treatment had been approved by the FDA, Bret recognized it as the best opportunity to extend his life and agreed to participate. He received the CAR-T cell dose in late October, and just six weeks later, his cancer was no longer detectable in his body.

The new treatment genetically alters a person's immune system to uniquely personalize it to target cancer cells, a significant departure from more routine chemotherapy.

While CAR-T cell therapy has been under development since 2012, the patient treated at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center is the first patient to participate in the first-ever, clinical trial for a novel dual-targeted CAR-T cell therapy against CD19 and CD20 that was manufactured using the CliniMACS Prodigy^® device, which is part of an automated CAR-T cell manufacturing platform developed by Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, a global company dedicated to enabling cellular and gene therapies. The dual-targeted CD19 and CD20 targeted CAR vector used to generate the CAR-T cells was developed and manufactured by Lentigen Technology, Inc., a subsidiary of Miltenyi Biotec GmbH. The modified cells can identify cancerous cells, attach to the cancer cells, and effectively destroy the cancer cells. A separate pediatric clinical trial for CAR-T treatment at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is expected to start later this year.

To continue reading the story, request broll and / or photos, visit: https://newsroom.mcw.edu/news-articles/cart-cell-immunotherapy-clinical-trial-cancer-patient-in-remission

Broll and photos available by request.

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SOURCE Medical College of Wisconsin