Novel Universal CAR-T Cell Therapy Shows High Remission Rates in Aggressive Blood Cancers

ST. LOUIS – May 30, 2025 – An international Phase 1/2 clinical trial, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has announced highly promising results for WU-CART-007, a new “universal” CAR-T cell immunotherapy. The therapy targets aggressive T-cell blood cancers, achieving full remission in most patients who received the full dose.

Published in the journal Blood, the findings highlight the therapy’s safety and efficacy for patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia or T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma that had exhausted standard treatments.

“For patients with these rare and aggressive cancers, who have no other options, this has the potential to become a transformative advance,” said senior author John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, of WashU Medicine.

Among 11 evaluable patients receiving the full dose, the overall response rate was 91%, with 8 out of 11 (72.7%) achieving complete remission. These rates are significantly higher than standard care for this challenging patient group.

WU-CART-007 is a “universal” CAR-T cell therapy, made from healthy donor cells using CRISPR gene editing, allowing for an “off-the-shelf” availability that drastically reduces patient wait times. The therapy is specifically engineered to target cancerous T cells while preventing harmful side effects.

Side effects, primarily mild to moderate cytokine release syndrome, were manageable. A larger international clinical trial is already underway.