CAR Factory: New approaches in immune cell therapy (UKW Press Office)
At the German Cancer Congress 2024, German Cancer Aid presented its new funding and research focus “Preclinical Drug Development”, with which it is funding three comprehensive projects for the development of novel cancer therapeutics with a total of 20 million euros over five years. The joint project “CAR Factory” is headed by Professor Dr. Michael Hudecek (University Hospital Würzburg, UKW) and Professor Dr. Evelyn Ulrich (University Hospital Frankfurt am Main).
Michael Hudecek, Head of the Chair of Cellular Immunotherapy at the University Hospital Würzburg and co-spokesperson of the CAR Factory network: "The CAR Factory project offers the opportunity to sustainably accelerate the preclinical and translational development of CAR-modified immune cells in Germany. We have succeeded in bringing together leading experts in the field of cell and gene therapy under the umbrella of the CAR Factory. Our vision is to establish a high-performance platform for the production of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T and NK cell products that will make both the expertise and cutting-edge technologies of this project available to scientists, doctors and patients.
Cancer cells hide from the immune system
The German Cancer Aid report states: "The human body is constantly exposed to a wide variety of pathogens from the environment. The body's own immune system can recognize most pathogens such as bacteria and viruses directly and render them harmless. However, the situation is different with cancer cells, which develop in the body from healthy cells. They develop mechanisms to avoid being attacked by the immune system. For example, cancer cells conceal certain molecules on their surface that would identify them as pathological for the immune system. As part of its priority program “Preclinical Drug Development”, German Cancer Aid is now funding the “CAR Factory” project. The aim is to further develop a new type of immunotherapy that makes tumor cells visible to the immune system again.
A multidisciplinary research team has joined forces to form the research network “CAR Factory: a high-performance platform for the development of genetically optimized CAR-T and NK cell therapies against cancer”, which is funded by German Cancer Aid with four million euros. The scientists involved want to further develop a therapy method that has been approved in Europe since 2018, known as “chimeric antigen receptor cell therapy”, or CAR cell therapy for short.
Genetically modified immune cells see the tumour
In CAR cell therapy, certain cells of the immune system are genetically modified so that they recognize specific surface markers on the tumour. This enables the CAR cells to destroy even well-camouflaged tumor cells in a targeted manner. Until now, medical professionals have only been able to use CAR cell therapy against certain types of blood and lymphatic cancers.
Intensive research is being carried out at universities and research centers on promising CAR immune cell therapies for other types of cancer, reports Professor Dr. Evelyn Ullrich, Head of the Department of Experimental Immunology and Cell Therapy at the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and co-spokesperson of the network. "However, there is often a lack of resources to further develop their therapeutic effectiveness in translational studies. The transfer of laboratory findings into clinical trials is one of the greatest challenges for cellular immunotherapy."
A bridge between the lab and the clinic
The immunologist hopes that the “CAR Factory” can form a bridge between basic research and the clinic. The ambitious team hopes to bring the first potential target structure for CAR cell therapy out of the laboratory and into clinical trials in just two years.
The researchers are focusing in particular on rare and difficult-to-treat types of cancer that have not been the focus of CAR cell research to date. "We want to target solid tumors in our network. These are a collection of many individual cancer cells, each of which is slightly different from its neighboring cell. This makes it difficult to identify a surface marker that all cells of a solid tumor carry," says Professor Dr. Michael Hudecek, Head of the Department of Cellular Immunotherapy at the University Hospital of Würzburg and co-spokesperson of the network.
CAR cell therapy on the fast track
In preliminary work by the applicants, families of surface molecules were identified for the targeted treatment of a wide variety of tumors with CAR immune cells. "In initial laboratory studies, we have already successfully reduced the number of blood cancer cells after treatment with innovative CAR cell therapies. We now want to find out which target molecules are suitable for solid tumors, for example in breast or lung cancer," explains Hudecek. In the long term, the research team would like to identify and test many more surface markers and thus fast-track CAR cell-based immunotherapy in Germany.
In addition to the University Hospitals of Würzburg and Frankfurt am Main, the University of Freiburg (Prof. Dr. Toni Cathomen), the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen (Prof. Dr. Zoltán Ivics) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology in Leipzig (Prof. Dr. Dr. Ulrike Köhl and Dr. Dominik Schmiedel) are also involved in the project.
CAR cell therapy on the fast track
In preliminary work by the applicants, families of surface molecules were identified for the targeted treatment of a wide variety of tumors with CAR immune cells. "In initial laboratory studies, we have already successfully reduced the number of blood cancer cells after treatment with innovative CAR cell therapies. We now want to find out which target molecules are suitable for solid tumors, for example in breast or lung cancer," explains Hudecek. In the long term, the research team would like to identify and test many more surface markers and thus fast-track CAR cell-based immunotherapy in Germany.
In addition to the University Hospitals of Würzburg and Frankfurt am Main, the University of Freiburg (Prof. Dr. Toni Cathomen), the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen (Prof. Dr. Zoltán Ivics) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology in Leipzig (Prof. Dr. Dr. Ulrike Köhl and Dr. Dominik Schmiedel) are also involved in the project.