2区 · 医学
Article
作者: Fu, Jun-Liang ; Wang, Tingting ; Zhao, Jinfang ; Wang, Si-Yu ; Zhou, Chun-Bao ; Shen, Yingjuan ; Lu-En, Wai ; Shi, Lei ; Koh, Sarene ; Luan, Junqing ; Shi, Ming ; Zhang, Ji-Yuan ; Bertoletti, Antonio ; Wu, Juan ; Wang, Fu-Sheng ; Li, Yuanyuan ; Liu, Limin ; Xie, Yunbo ; Tan, Anthony Tanoto ; Wong, Regina Wanju ; Hu, Wei ; Yu, Shuangjie ; Meng, Fanping ; Jin, Jiehua
Background & aims:Immunotherapy with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific TCR redirected T (HBV-TCR-T) cells in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) patients after liver transplantation was reported to be safe and had potential therapeutic efficacy. We aim to investigate the safety of HBV-TCR-T-cell immunotherapy in advanced HBV-HCC patients who had not met the criteria for liver transplantation.
Methods:We enrolled eight patients with advanced HBV-HCC and adoptively transferred short-lived autologous T cells expressing HBV-specific TCR to perform an open-label, phase 1 dose-escalation study (NCT03899415). The primary endpoint was to evaluate the safety of HBV-TCR-T-cell therapy according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.03) during the dose-escalation process. The secondary endpoint was to assess the efficacy of HBV-TCR-T-cell therapy by evaluating the anti-tumor responses using RECIST criteria (version 1.1) and the overall survival.
Results:Adverse events were observed in two participants among the 8 patients enrolled. Only one patient experienced a Grade 3 liver-related adverse event after receiving a dose of 1 × 105 HBV-TCR-T cells/kg, then normalized without interventions with immunosuppressive agents. Among the patients, one achieved a partial response lasting for 27.7 months. Importantly, most of the patients exhibited a reduction or stabilization of circulating HBsAg and HBV DNA levels after HBV-TCR-T-cell infusion, indicating the on-target effects.
Conclusions:The adoptive transfer of HBV-TCR-T cells into advanced HBV-HCC patients were generally safe and well-tolerated. Observations of clinical efficacy support the continued development and eventual application of this treatment strategy in patients with advanced HBV-related HCC.
Clinical trials registration:This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03899415).