2024-03-14 17:59:04
Hello Health Rounds readers! Today we have potentially exciting early data on the treatment of one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer from three different trials. We also report promising data on a new blood test for colorectal cancer detection that was as accurate as current commercial home tests.
Initial studies indicate the benefit of CAR T cells in glioblastoma
Initial studies using CAR T cells to treat recurrent glioblastoma in humans suggest this approach could be beneficial for patients with this deadly form of brain cancer, researchers say.
During the treatment, patients’ own T cells – a key component of the immune system – are removed, genetically modified and infused again. The therapy, which is currently only approved for a range of blood cancers, shrank tumors in three separate early-stage glioblastoma trials designed primarily to test the approach’s safety.
In a study reported Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine (link), three patients with recurrent glioblastoma were treated with CAR-T cells engineered to produce different forms of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) proteins attack on the surface of the tumor cells.
“Tumor regression was dramatic and rapid, occurring within days of receiving a single infusion,” the researchers report.
In two of the three participants, the tumors began to grow again within one to two months, but in the third patient, the response to treatment lasted up to 150 days after treatment.
“These results are exciting, but they are also just the beginning, they tell us that we are on the right track,” said study leader Dr. Marcela Maus of the Mass General Cancer Center in Boston said in a statement.
Since CAR-T therapy emerged on the scene, researchers have been looking for ways it could treat solid tumor cancers.
In a separate early study published Wednesday in Nature Medicine (link), CAR-T cells that target EGFR and a second cell surface protein called interleukin-13 receptor alpha 2 suppressed tumors in all six patients with recurrent cancer Glioblastomas are shrinking, although none of them shrank by at least 50 percent.
“In three of the four patients examined at least two months after CAR T-cell therapy, the disease remained stable,” the researchers said.
The study, conducted in part by the GILD’s Kite Pharma unit, funded by Gilead Sciences, will continue, with future participants receiving gradually higher doses of the treatment.
“We are excited by these results and look forward to continuing our study, which will give us a better understanding of how this dual-target CAR T-cell therapy works on a broader range of individuals with recurrent glioblastoma,” said Head of study Dr. Donald O’Rourke of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia said in a statement.
A third early-stage study published last week in Nature Medicine (link) tested different doses of CAR-T cells targeting the interleukin-13 receptor alpha 2 in 65 patients with recurrent glioblastoma.
The treatment provided by the 
FBIO Mustang Bio 
MBIO, licensed by Fortress Biotech, led to stable or better disease progression in 50 percent of patients, the authors report. Overall, half of the participants survived more than 8 months.
“These were heavily pretreated patients, so we were not sure how they would cope with CAR T-cell therapy,” said lead author Dr. Behnam Badie of City of Hope in Duarte, California, said in a statement. “But some of them actually did better than their initial response to standard treatments.”
Blood test is promising for colon cancer prevention
An experimental blood test to detect early-stage colon cancer was as accurate as currently available home stool tests for people at average risk for the disease in a large-scale study, researchers report.
“The results of the study are a promising step toward developing more convenient tools for early detection of colorectal cancer while making it even easier to treat,” said lead author Dr. William Grady of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle said in a statement.
Researchers compared Guardant Health’s blood test on 7,861 volunteers 
GH with the gold standard colonoscopy for colon cancer screening.
The blood test, part of an emerging field known as liquid biopsy, detects colon cancer signals in the blood based on the DNA shed by tumors.
Overall, 83.1 percent of participants with colon cancer confirmed by a colonoscopy had a positive blood test, while 16.9 percent had a false negative test, in which the colonoscopy showed cancer that was not detected in the blood test.
“These results are comparable to the performance of other guideline-recommended non-invasive screening tests (), where the overall sensitivity in detecting colorectal cancer is between 74 percent and 92 percent,” Guardant said in a statement.
The results were published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine (link).
The test was less sensitive for advanced precancerous lesions that are at high risk of becoming malignant.
“Colon cancer is common and very preventable through screening, but only about 50 to 60 percent of people who are eligible for screening actually take up these tests,” says Grady.
“A blood-based test that can be performed during routine doctor’s visits could help encourage more people to go for checkups,” he added.
A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee is expected to review the test later this month.
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