IL-1 blockade to treat CAR T side effects

In a pair of papers published Monday in Nature Medicine, researchers from the Sloan Kettering Institute and the San Raffaele Hospital Scientific Institute suggest blocking the IL-1 receptor could help treat side effects of CAR T therapies, such as cytokine-release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicities.

The Sloan Kettering team investigated proinflammatory cytokine IL-1 due to its role in the inducible nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2; iNOS) pathway, which produces the inflammation-associated effector of cell death that is linked to CRS. Previous research has shown that IL-6 induces NOS2 production; the only approved treatment for CRS, Actemra tocilizumab, is a humanized mAb against IL-6 receptor (CD126) from Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY)...