Driving the CAR to fight acute myeloid leukemia

A multi-institutional team developed a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell-based strategy for specifically targeting AML cells in patients who relapsed following other treatments. The team identified a monoclonal antibody called KG2032 that reacts with a certain variant of the HLA-DRB1 molecule. KG2032 CAR T cells displayed strong anti-AML effects in a mouse model, and CAR natural killer cells showed similar results. Clinical trials are currently being planned.