Science Highlights
Published on July 30, 2025
Armored CAR T-cell product used to increase antitumor activity in relapsed/refractory lymphoma
by The New England Journal of Medicine
Svoboda J, Landsburg DJ, Gerson J, et al. Enhanced CAR T-Cell Therapy for Lymphoma after Previous Failure. New England Journal of Medicine. 2025; 392 (18): 1824 (doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2408771).
Researchers believe an "armored" chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product could achieve durable remission in lymphoma patients whose previous anti-CD19 CAR T therapy failed. In their study, 21 people with relapsed/refractory lymphoma were treated with huCART19-IL18, an anti-CD19 construct engineered to deepen antitumor activity via interleukin-18 secretion. All participants had experienced a prior failure of anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy, but outcomes with huCART19-IL18 persisted. Even at cell doses ranging from 3x106 to 3x108, significant CAR T-cell expansion occurred. Complete or partial response was confirmed in 81% of the patients 3 months post-infusion, with a complete response documented in 52%. At a median follow-up of 17.5 months, the median duration of response was 9.6 months, suggesting lasting efficacy with no additional burden of toxicity.
Read More
![]()
The New England Journal of Medicine