CAR T-cell therapy moves into the fast lane
December 2024—There is no disguising the enthusiasm—not to mention expertise—that David Miklos, MD, PhD, brings to the topic of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies. CAR T-cell products have been strikingly effective in treating large B-cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma, as well as other hematologic malignancies such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, follicular lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma. Sounding equal parts life coach and physician, Dr. Miklos sees nearly limitless potential in this immunotherapy, which entails genetically engineering T cells to express engineered molecules that can recognize and bind to specific antigens on cancer cells. “So much is possible,” he says. “Our little minds are limiting this, not the potential of science. There are a lot of obvious and mind-blowingly effective strategies that are just coming home to roost. We have really blown open the opportunity to advance therapies more quickly, to apply multipronged approaches using logic loops that are essentially programmed into a cell. It’s really exciting.”