Moffitt Continues Studying CAR T To Treat Ovarian Cancer

Since its U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 2017, CAR T-cell therapy has been used to treat multiple types of blood cancer. Moffitt Cancer Center is now studying the treatment in solid tumors, including ovarian cancer. 

Preclinical data from previous studies conducted at Moffitt has led to a phase 1 clinical trial evaluating CAR T in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.  

CAR T is a type of adoptive cell therapy that uses the body’s own immune system to attack cancer. A patient’s T cells are harvested from their body, genetically engineered in a lab and infused back into the patient.  

For ovarian cancer patients, their T cells are engineered to target the follicle stimulating hormone receptor that is expressed on ovarian cells, tumor vasculature, and certain cancer cells. 

Targeting a Unique Marker  

Robert Wenham, MD 

After being removed from the body and genetically engineered in the lab, a patient’s T cells are delivered directly into their abdomen via a surgically placed catheter.

According to Robert Wenham, MD, chair of the Gynecologic Oncology Department at Moffitt, targeting the follicle stimulating hormone receptor is the key to success.  

“The hurdle with a lot of CAR T-cell therapies is that the tumor makes markers to target, but those tumor markers are sometimes made on normal tissue and are just made in more abundance on the cancer cells, which can lead to on-target and off-tumor side effects,” Wenham explained.  

The trial is open to patients with recurrent, epithelial and stromal ovarian cancers that have failed prior therapy.  

“Low-grade ovarian cancers are a particularly chemotherapy-resistant set of tumors that afflicts younger women, who have the follicle stimulating hormone receptor marker in abundance, and those patients are eligible for this trial as well,” Wenham said.  

Next Steps 

Throughout trial, the research team has evaluated different doses for tolerability and has not observed any dose-limiting toxicities to date. They will next be testing the efficacy of CAR T given after conditioning chemotherapy, as well as higher doses of CAR T.    

“This is the point in other trials where we see the effects of CAR T,” Wenham said. “We are really hoping to start seeing efficacy as a signal in this next phase.”