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Pharma Tech Outlook | Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Low-intensity Pulsed ultrasound devices can enhance the delivery of CAR-T therapies and the penetration of checkpoint inhibitors into the brain of preclinical glioma models.
FREMONT, CA: CarThera, a French company designing and developing innovative ultrasound-based medical devices for brain disorders, announces preclinical results in testing the combination of SonoCloud® technology with immunotherapy. This laboratory work collaborates with Dr. Amy Heimberger, a renowned expert in glioblastoma immunotherapy (GBM) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Recently, the results are published online in the prestigious journal Clinical Cancer Research: opening blood-brain barriers using low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPU) enhances immunotherapy responses in preclinical glioma models.
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Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment in recent years; however, these approaches have failed in multiple trials in GBM. The SonoCloud device utilizes LIPU to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier (BBB), enhancing the delivery of various therapeutic approaches, such as CAR-T cells and checkpoint inhibitors, to the tumor and surrounding brain parenchyma for the treatment of glioblastoma and other brain tumors.
“The positive results from this work pave the way for future clinical trials to test this approach. Our studies clearly demonstrate that using pulsed ultrasound to temporarily disrupt the BBB can enhance the therapeutic effects of a variety of immunotherapeutic strategies for glioblastoma by enhancing the delivery of antibodies, CAR-T cells and genetically-modified cellular immunotherapies to the tumor microenvironment - ultimately leading to better efficacy,” says Michael Canney, Scientific Director at CarThera.
“Immunotherapy-based approaches also have the potential to generate long-lasting immunity in the brain - even beyond the treatment zone. Our preclinical results indicate that the SonoCloud technology can markedly enhance and increase the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors. This strategy demonstrated protection from subsequent tumor rechallenge in the untreated hemisphere,” says Dr. Amy Heimberger, Professor of Neurosurgery and Scientific Director of Northwestern Medicine Malnati Brain Tumor Institute of the Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University, Chicago.
Immunotherapy is one of the most critical novel therapeutic advances in cancer treatment over the past decade; however, primary brain tumors have not shown efficacy. In addition, insufficient brain penetration can contribute to disappointing results. Nevertheless, current preclinical results suggest enhanced efficacy in combination with opening ultrasound-based blood-brain barriers and support their use in human clinical trials. In the SoniMEL study in Paris, CarThera is currently exploring and testing immunotherapy use in patients with melanoma brain metastases; similarly, researchers at the Northwestern University in Chicago are exploring the SonoCloud device in clinical trials for GBM patients.
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