NU 2022-074 

INVENTORS 

• Irina V. Balyasnikova* 

BACKGROUND 

Glioblastoma is a devastating brain cancer for which no effective treatment exists, leading to short patient survival. Although investigations are underway to explore chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells as glioblastoma therapy, the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) in glioblastoma often impairs the efficacy of CAR-T. Northwestern researchers developed a new method to armor CAR-T cells with an immunostimulatory protein, interleukin 15 (IL15), by expressing IL15 fused to a single-chain antibody on the CAR. The new CAR-T cells not only targets the tumor-associated antigen, but also modulates TME by providing a stable source of IL15. Intratumoral administration of the CAR-IL15 T cells diminishes the production of immunosuppressive molecules and tumor-associated macrophages while increasing infiltration of host anti-tumor immunity. The treatment improves tumor-bearing mice survival and appears to be a promising platform for treating glioblastoma.  

IP STATUS 

US Patent Pending