Lay summary
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells are a personalised cancer immunotherapy that is available internationally to treat certain blood cancers. In Aotearoa New Zealand's first clinical trial (ENABLE-1), our novel CAR T-cell therapy showed promising safety and efficacy in people with relapsed lymphomas. However, further improvements are needed, as some people's cancers fail to respond, or relapse after treatment. This may be due to 'exhaustion' of CAR T-cells by overactivation during their manufacture, or due to the suppressive environment within tumours. In this research, we will engineer CAR T-cells to resist exhaustion, and we will develop improved, faster CAR T-cell manufacturing processes to maintain CAR T-cell fitness and accelerate treatment. We plan to apply findings from this research to our clinical trial programme, which aims to assess promising new CAR T-cell therapies in Aotearoa New Zealand.