Advanced Therapies Week 2022 | DSG3-CAART: A novel CAAR T-cell therapy in pemphigus vulgaris

Samik Basu, MD, Cabaletta Bio, Philadelphia, PA, talks on the differences between chimeric autoantibody receptor (CAAR) T-cells and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells. Unlike CD19-targeted CAR T-cells which target and kill all CD19-positive B-cells, CAAR T-cells selectively eliminate memory B-cells that give rise to plasma cells generating autoantibodies. Whilst the intracellular portion of CAAR T-cells and CAR T-cells are similar, the extracellular portion of the CAAR T-cell contains a portion of the protein targeted by the autoantibody. Dr Basu additionally outlines the design and early results of the Phase I, dose-escalation DesCAARTes trial (NCT04422912) investigating the maximum tolerated dose of DSG3-CAART, an autologous desmoglein 3 (DSG3) CAAR T-cell, in patients with mucosal-dominant pemphigus vulgaris (mPV). DSG3-CAART appears safe and a dose-dependent increase in CAAR T-cell persistence was observed within the first 29 days after infusion. This interview took place at Advanced Therapies Week 2022.