OUH opens its first CAR-T therapy trial for multiple myeloma

The first OUH patient has been recruited in a new clinical trial using a cutting-edge form of immunotherapy for patients with the blood cancer, multiple myeloma.

This treatment, CAR T-cell therapy, is used for some children and adults with leukaemia, and for some adults with lymphoma, but is not available on the NHS for myeloma.

In CAR T therapy, some of the patient’s own T cells – white blood cells that play an important part in the immune system - are removed and modified with special receptors, called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), that allow the cells to identify a specific protein on cancer cells. These modified CAR T cells are infused back into the patient, where they can seek out and destroy the cancer cells.

“It is a proud moment for the Clinical Haematology team to begin our first ever CAR-T therapy trial for myeloma at OUH, which represents a positive step forward for myeloma research in Oxford,” said Dr Jaimal Kothari, the OUH consultant who is the primary investigator for the trial in Oxford.

This is a major multi-centre international commercial study, sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb.

Those recruited are patients whose myeloma has returned after initial treatment. The trial is randomised, meaning the participants will either receive the CAR-T therapy or standard of care treatment options, such as other forms of immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. 

“The importance of this trial lies in the fact that CAR-T therapy is already a licensed treatment for multiple myeloma, so we know the strategy itself is effective,” Dr Kothari explained. “However, this study targets a different protein from the currently approved CAR-T products.”

“The goal of this therapy is to re-engineer your immune system so it can recognise the cancer -  and for those CAR-T cells to remain in the body, ready to reactivate if the myeloma returns.”