On a CureTalks conversation earlier today with Dr. Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), we learned that his team had very recently treated two men with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) using chimeric antibody receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T).
There was no time on the call to get into the details of exactly what form of CAR-T was used in these two patients, but we do know that this was a preliminary trial funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The outcomes of these two patients are not yet known. The other thing that we are pretty sure of is that this is the very first use of CAR-T as an experimental form of treatment for any patient with any form of prostate cancer.
We will do our best to follow-up with Dr. June and the Prostate Cancer Foundation to make sure we can learn the outcomes of these patients as soon as possible.
For those interested in listening to the conversation with Dr. June on the CureTalks web site, please just click here and then click on the arrowhead symbol to start the playback of the audiorecording.
Filed under: Drugs in development, Management, Treatment | Tagged: antibody, CAR-T, chimeric, receptor, T-cell |
THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK 
Hope this pans out. I am no expert on this. Getting to those malignant cells in bone is a little harder than leukemias. Bit it apparently works on melanoma. If it proves effective, what’s to stop the use as primary treatment?
Dear sitemaster
Any idea when we will learn more about those two mCRPC-patients who have been treated by Dr. June’s team?
Thank you very much for your update & your efforts!
m.
Dear Madagascar:
I think we may need to wait for at least 3 months. Both the PCF and Dr. June know (directly from me, but I am sure they knew anyway) that the are a significant number of men who are really looking forward to how these two individuals do.
Great — thanks for the fast response!
Best, m.
Dear Sitemaster
Do you have any news from the PCF and/or Dr. June regarding the status of those two patients?
Thanks!
m.
Dear Madagascar:
Sorry. Not yet. I will see if I can squeeze anything out of PCF.
Excellent — thanks! I really appreciate it.
Best,
m.
Dear Madagascar:
I am told by PCF that as yet there is “still nothing new to report”. This is one of the problems with initial studies in just one or two people. It can be incredibly difficult to determine exactly what can be reported and when. I suppose one way to look at it is that the glass is still half full. If both patients had died within 4 months of going on to the trial, the glass would be at least half empty (and arguably completely so).
That was fast – thanks! I guess I still hope to read one day about a treatment that refills the glass… ;-)