Assessing the Safety of a Cell-Based Immunotherapy for Brain Cancers Using a Humanized Model of Hematopoiesis

Despite a surge in the preclinical development of immunotherapies, current models are unable to predict putative toxicity, particularly the “on-target, off-tumor” effects of these therapeutics. To address this gap, we used a humanized mouse model of hematopoiesis to examine the toxicity profile of CAR-Ts targeting brain tumor-antigens also expressed in the hematopoietic system. In assessing the safety of cell-based therapies, we aim to develop and integrate a preclinical evaluation protocol as a necessary step in the clinical development pathway. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Vora et al. (2020).