PeproMene Bio Inc, a clinical-stage biotech company developing novel therapies for cancers and immune disorders, reported on Wednesday that City of Hope-developed BAFF-R CAR T, known as PMB-CT01, has demonstrated better polyfunctionality than CD19 CAR T cells that are used in current US Food and Drug Administration-approved CAR T cell therapies, according to a correlative study published in Blood Advances.

Researchers used a single-cell platform which found that PMB-CT01 CAR T cells had more polyfunctionality (T cells' ability to perform several functions at the same time) than CD 19 CAR T cells. PMB-CT01 cells also produced more stimulatory cytokines, which can spur the immune system, and effector cytokines, which can directly kill cancer cells.

Using the City of Hope-developed assay, researchers tested a BAFF-R CAR T cell product from a 57-year-old man with relapsed mantle cell lymphoma. The patient had not achieved remission with prior CD19 CAR T cell therapies. After receiving one infusion in City of Hope's Phase 1 trial using PMB-CT01 and experiencing minimal side effects, the man has been in complete remission over 18 months and continues to have undetectable cancer by sensitive molecular tests for minimal residual disease. The study reported robust indicators of polyfunctionality, which correlated with successful CAR T cell expansion post-infusion and the patient's ongoing remission. Researchers plan to use the assay to test CAR T cell products from five other patients in the trial, all of whom have experienced similar remissions to PMB-CT01.