News
Professor Lin Xin's Team Publishes Landmark Research in Cell Sub-Journal: STAR-T Technology Enables Targeting of Intracellular Neoantigens for Solid Tumor Therapy
Recently, a team led by Professor Xin Lin — Scientific Founder of Bristar Immunotech and Tenured Professor at Tsinghua University — published a research article titled "TCR-mimicking STAR conveys superior sensitivity over CAR in targeting tumors with low-density neoantigens" in Cell Reports, a sub-journal of Cell. This study demonstrates the high sensitivity of the novel chimeric antigen receptor STAR-T in targeting tumors with low-abundance neoantigens, promising to advance T-cell immunotherapy into an era of greater precision and efficacy. It also marks another breakthrough in STAR-T technology research.
On the journey of exploring tumor immunotherapy, Professor Lin Xin’s research team has achieved another important milestone. Published in Cell Reports on November 8, 2024, the team’s research article elaborates on the significant advantages of STAR-T technology in enhancing the ability to recognize and attack tumor cells with low-abundance neoantigens. This discovery provides a solid scientific foundation for improving the precision and efficacy of T-cell immunotherapy, particularly holding the potential for major breakthroughs in the field of solid tumor treatment.
Synthetic T Cell Receptor and Antigen Receptor (STAR)-T technology is a novel cell therapy that integrates the natural signal transduction mechanism of T cell receptors (TCRs) and the direct antigen recognition capability of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). By combining the strengths of both, it improves treatment safety and efficacy. This technology is particularly suitable for developing dual-target cell therapy products and solid tumor cell therapies, with features such as inherent dual-targeting capability, low toxicity, delayed exhaustion, and strong tissue infiltration.
Professor Lin Xin’s research team first published the STAR-T technology in Science Translational Medicine in March 2021 [1], and has successfully achieved its clinical translation and application.
In the field of hematological malignancy treatment, STAR-T technology has demonstrated remarkable efficacy, with findings successively presented at international authoritative conferences and published in academic journals:
- An autologous CD19-specific STAR-T achieved complete remission (CR) in all 18 patients (100% CR rate) in an exploratory clinical study for relapsed/refractory (R/R) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). No grade 3 or above cytokine release syndrome (CRS) was observed in any patient [2], [4] (2020 ASH Annual Meeting, 2022 American Journal of Hematology).
- An autologous CD19/CD20 dual-target STAR-T led to CR in 8 out of 9 patients (8/9) in an early-phase clinical trial for R/R B-ALL, with no severe adverse effects reported in any patient [3] (2021 EHA Annual Meeting).
- Recently, an allogeneic universal product developed based on the aforementioned CD19 STAR-T achieved "remarkable" efficacy in an exploratory clinical study involving 8 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis (LN).
In terms of innovative targets for hematological malignancies, the team has developed an autologous LILRB4-specific biparatopic STAR-T product targeting the innovative potential target LILRB4, which addresses the therapeutic challenges of complex hematological tumors. Early research findings of this product were presented as poster reports twice at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting [5]. It received the "Orphan Drug" designation from the U.S. FDA in December 2022 and obtained the implied clinical trial license from China’s Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) in January 2024. Additionally, exploratory clinical research on this product for multiple myeloma (MM) is ongoing, with positive clinical data already achieved.