Maria Babak: Must read on CAR T-Cell Therapy

Maria Babak shared a post by The Babak Lab on LinkedIn:

“This is a must-read for anyone interested in the latest advancements in cancer therapy.

It highlights the crucial balance between the low risk of secondary tumors and the importance of vigilant long-term monitoring after CAR T-cell therapy.

Understanding these insights is vital for enhancing patient safety and maximizing the therapy’s benefits.

Don’t miss out on these groundbreaking findings! Read more in The Babak Lab latest review!”

Quoting The Babak Lab’s post:

“Scientific Wednesday:

Advancements in CAR T-Cell Therapy.

Low Risk of Second Tumors with Essential Long-Term Monitoring.

A recent study by Mark Hamilton, Ash Alizadeh, et al. at NEJM Group offers valuable insights into the risk of secondary cancers following CAR T-cell therapy.

Key findings from the research:

• Low Risk of Secondary Tumors.
• Only 6.5% of patients experienced secondary blood cancers within 3 years post-therapy.

In-Depth Case Analysis.

• One fatal T-cell lymphoma case was linked to immunosuppression rather than the CAR T cells themselves.

Molecular Insights.

• Distinct T-cell profiles, Epstein-Barr virus presence, and DNMT3A, TET2 mutations were identified.

No Retroviral Integration, No evidence of oncogenic retroviral integration causing the secondary lymphoma.

Monitoring Framework:

A robust method for post-therapy monitoring to identify patients at higher risk for secondary cancers.

While the overall benefits of CAR T-cell therapy continue to outweigh the risks, this study highlights the importance of long-term patient follow-up.

By understanding and mitigating these risks, we can further enhance the safety and efficacy of CAR T-cell therapies.

Read more in the original article.”

Source: Maria Babak/LinkedIn and The Babak Lab/LinkedIn

Dr. Maria (Masha) Babak is the Head of The Babak Lab and an Assistant Professor at the City University of Hong Kong. She earned her Ph.D. in bioinorganic chemistry from the University of Vienna in 2014. From 2015 to 2020, Dr. Babak was a postdoctoral research fellow at the National University of Singapore under the mentorship of Prof. Wee Han Ang, where she developed a strong passion for drug discovery and drug target identification. In November 2020, she joined the City University of Hong Kong as an assistant professor. Dr. Babak received the Graeme Hanson-AsBIC Early Career Award in 2022.

Her research interests are at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and medicine, with a focus on the discovery and preclinical development of anticancer drugs for resistant and aggressive cancers with limited treatment options, such as malignant pleural mesothelioma and brain metastasis.