Eric Smith, MD, PhD

Eric Smith, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the use of armored chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in multiple myeloma.

At Memorial Sloan Kettering, armored CAR T cells are used to encode at least 2 genes, 1 being the CAR itself and the second being a gene that gives T cells an advantage. According to Smith, it could be a proinflammatory cytokine that make T cells better killers. It could also be a ligand that is expressed on the surface and interacts with other cells in the tumor microenvironment.

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Eric Smith, MD, PhD, discusses the use of armored chimeric antigen receptor T cells in multiple myeloma.

Armored CAR T Cells in Multiple Myeloma

Eric Smith, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses challenges with CAR T-cell therapy as a treatment option for multiple myeloma. While studies have shown CD19 CAR T cells and BCMA CAR T cells have durable responses in this patient population, patients still relapse over time.

According to Smith, there are 2 reasons that this happens. The first is that the target antigen is downregulated or not expressed in small populations of cells, and the cells end up growing. Another reason is that the myeloma relapse is still expressing the target because the T cells are no longer functionally persistent. Therefore, they are unable to do a good job in dividing and killing the cells.

Eric Smith, MD, PhD, discusses challenges with CAR T-cell therapy as a treatment option for multiple myeloma. While studies have shown CD19 CAR T cells and BCMA CAR T cells have durable responses in this patient population, patients still relapse over time.

Eric Smith, MD, PhD | Authors

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