- Botta, Gregory P;
- Chao, Joseph;
- Ma, Hong;
- Hahn, Michael;
- Sierra, Gloria;
- Jia, Jie;
- Hendrix, Amanda Y;
- Fong, Joy V Nolte;
- Ween, Audrey;
- Vu, Peter;
- Miller, Aaron;
- Choi, Michael;
- Heyman, Benjamin;
- Daniels, Gregory A;
- Kaufman, Dan;
- Jamieson, Catriona;
- Li, Zonghai;
- Cohen, Ezra
Treatment of hematologic malignancies with patient-derived anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells has demonstrated long-term remissions for patients with otherwise treatment-refractory advanced leukemia and lymphoma. Conversely, CAR T-cell treatment of solid tumors, including advanced gastric cancer (GC), has proven more challenging due to on-target off-tumor toxicities, poor tumor T-cell infiltration, inefficient CAR T-cell expansion, immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments, and demanding preconditioning regimens. We report the exceptional results of autologous Claudin18.2-targeted CAR T cells (CT041) in a patient with metastatic GC, who had progressed on four lines of combined systemic chemotherapy and immunotherapy. After two CT041 infusions, the patient had target lesion complete response and sustained an 8-month overall partial response with only minimal ascites. Moreover, tumor-informed circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) reductions coincided with rapid CAR T-cell expansion and radiologic response. No severe toxicities occurred, and the patient's quality of life significantly improved. This experience supports targeting Claudin18.2-positive GC with CAR T-cell therapy and helps to validate ctDNA as a biomarker in CAR T-cell therapy. Clinical Insight: Claudin18.2-targeted CAR T cells can safely provide complete objective and ctDNA response in salvage metastatic GC.