The Vall d"Hebron Institut d"Oncologia has launched a clinical trial with an advanced CAR T therapy aimed at patients with solid tumors that present the HER2 protein. The first phase will start in the coming days with fifteen patients, in a study that seeks to open a new path for cases that have already exhausted conventional options.
The research focuses on tumors in which HER2 is present, a protein that appears in 20% of breast cancers, in one out of five gastrohepatic cancers and in one out of 20 colon cancers. The objective is to verify in humans if the strategy offers the same response observed in the preclinical phase.
First trial in patients with HER2 solid tumors
CAR T therapy has shown relevant results in some hematological cancers, but its application in solid tumors remains one of the great challenges of oncological research. In this case, VHIO takes the step towards clinical evaluation in patients selected due to the presence of that specific protein in the tumor.
"Laboratory experiments with mice have been very positive, we have seen a complete response, tumors disappear and without side effects; now we hope to confirm this in humans" - Joaquín Arribas, VHIO
Arribas is head of the Growth Factors Group of VHIO and director of the Hospital del Mar Research Institute. The team's forecast is to have results within a period of two years, time in which the effectiveness of this therapeutic strategy is expected to be corroborated.
Patients who have already exhausted other options
Irene Braña, senior researcher of the Molecular Cancer Therapy Research Unit of VHIO, has specified that the trial is designed for patients who have not obtained improvement with usual treatments. Furthermore, they must be in conditions to tolerate the procedure, since before administering the CAR T it is necessary to apply chemotherapy.
The study is aimed at patients without response to previous therapies and with capacity to assume the preparatory treatment. That filter is part of a first phase focused both on safety and on the first signs of clinical activity of the therapy.
With this start, the Barcelona center opens a key stage to evaluate if an approach that has given very positive results in the laboratory can be transferred to clinical practice in solid tumors with HER2, a field in which research maintains many expectations.