CT041 CAR T cell therapy for Claudin18.2-positive metastatic pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer lacks effective therapy. Here, we reported two metastatic pancreatic cancer patients administrated with Claudin 18.2 (CLDN 18.2) CART therapy after the failure of standard therapy (NCT04581473 and NCT03874897). In case 1, with CLDN 18.2 expression of 2+, 70%, 250 × 10(6) cells were infused after lymphodepletion. Grade 1 cytokine release syndrome (CRS) occurred on d1 which was later controlled by tocilizumab. Partial response (PR) was achieved according to RECIST v1.1, with great shrinkage of lung metastasis. An increasing CD8+ T cell and Treg cells and declining CD4+ T cell and B cell were observed. In case 2, IHC result of ClDN18.2 showed 3+, 60%. 250 × 10(6) CLDN18.2 CART cells were subsequently administered. Patient experienced grade 2 CRS, which was controlled with tocilizumab. Target lesions of lung metastasis further achieved complete response. Similar increasing CD8+ T cell and Treg cell was detected from peripheral blood. Elevating IL-8 and declining TGF-β1 were also observed. The tumor is still under well control until the last follow-up on July 18, 2023. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13045-023-01491-9.