GD2-specific chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells for the treatment of refractory and/or recurrent neuroblastoma in pediatric patients

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) disialoganglioside 2 (GD2)-specific (4SCAR-GD2) T cells for treatment of refractory and/or recurrent neuroblastoma (NB) in pediatric patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: A phase I clinical study using 4SCAR-GD2 T cells for the treatment of NB in pediatric patients was conducted. This study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02765243). A lentiviral CAR with the signaling domains of CD28/4-1BB/CD3ζ-iCasp9 was transduced into activated T cells. The response to 4SCAR-GD2 T-cell treatment, and 4SCAR-GD2 T-cell expansion and persistence in patients were evaluated. Toxicities were determined based on the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v4.03. RESULTS: Twelve patients were enrolled and finally ten patients were included in this clinical trial which started from January 1, 2016, to August 1, 2017. These patients had progressive disease (PD) before CAR T-cell infusion. After 4SCAR-GD2 T-cell treatment, 6 (6/10) had stable disease (SD) at 6 months, and 4 (4/10) remained SD at 1 year and alive after 3–4 years of follow-up. Six patients died due to disease progression by the end of July 1, 2020. The median overall survival (OS) time was 25 months (95% CI, 0.00–59.43), and the median progression-free survival (PFS) time was 8 months (95% CI, 0.25–15.75). Grade 3 or 4 hematological toxicities were the common adverse events frequently occurred after fludarabine and cyclophosphamide (Flu/cy) chemotherapy. Grade 1–2 toxicities such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neuropathic pain were common, but were transient and mild. CONCLUSIONS: The 4SCAR-GD2 T-cell therapy demonstrated antitumor effect and manageable toxicities, indicating its potential to benefit children with refractory and/or recurrent NB. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-021-03839-5.