Driving CARs into neuroblastoma
How new neuroblastoma targets could lead to CAR T cells for high-risk disease
In separate studies published in the same July issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences, NCI and Karolinska Institute teams each discovered a new target for high-risk forms of neuroblastoma. The former identified glypican 2 (GPC2) as a tumor-specific cell surface antigen that could lead to a potent CAR T cell therapy for the high-risk pediatric cancer, while the latter found that rho-associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase 2 (ROCK2)-selective inhibitors may be effective.
In the first study, Mitchell Ho and colleagues from the NIH and Jilin University in China showed that the GPC2 cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan is highly expressed in high-risk neuroblastoma cell lines and tumor samples, and that targeting GPC2 with an immunotoxin or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy effectively treated the cancer in mice (see Distillery)...