allogeneic CRISPR-edited anti-CD19 CAR T cells CB-010

A preparation of allogeneic, off-the-shelf T lymphocytes genetically modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) specific for the tumor-associated antigen (TAA) CD19, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-edited to eliminate endogenous T-cell receptor (TCR) and programmed death 1 (PD-1; PDCD1; CD279; programmed cell death-1) expression, with potential immunostimulating and antineoplastic activities. Upon administration, the allogeneic CRISPR-edited anti-CD19 CAR-T cells CB-010 recognize and bind to CD19-expressing tumor cells. This may result in a specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated killing of CD19-positive tumor cells. PD-1, an immune checkpoint receptor expressed on T cells, plays a key role in tumor immune evasion by binding to its ligand programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1; cluster of differentiation 274; CD274; programmed cell death-1 ligand 1) expressed on tumor cells. By removing PD-1 from T cells, PD-1-mediated signaling is halted which may decrease T-cell exhaustion and may enhance T-cell activity against the CD19-expressing tumor cells. The endogenous TCR is removed to prevent graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). CD19 antigen is a B-cell specific cell surface antigen overexpressed in B-cell lineage malignancies.