Study of B7-H3-Specific CAR T Cell Locoregional Immunotherapy for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma/Diffuse Midline Glioma and Recurrent or Refractory Pediatric Central Nervous System Tumors

NCT ID: NCT04185038

Last Updated: 2025-12-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: PHASE1
• Total Enrollment: 90 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-12-11
• Study Completion Date: 2041-05-31

Brief Summary

This is a Phase 1 study of central nervous system (CNS) locoregional adoptive therapy with autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt. CAR T cells are delivered via an indwelling catheter into the tumor resection cavity or ventricular system in children and young adults with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), diffuse midline glioma (DMG), and recurrent or refractory CNS tumors.

A child or young adult meeting all eligibility criteria, including having a CNS catheter placed into the tumor resection cavity or into their ventricular system, and meeting none of the exclusion criteria, will have their T cells collected. The T cells will then be bioengineered into a second-generation CAR T cell that targets B7H3-expressing tumor cells. Patients will be assigned to one of 3 treatment arms based on location or type of their tumor. Patients with supratentorial tumors will be assigned to Arm A, and will receive their treatment into the tumor cavity. Patients with either infratentorial or metastatic/leptomeningeal tumors will be assigned to Arm B, and will have their treatment delivered into the ventricular system. The first 3 patients enrolled onto the study must be at least 15 years of age and assigned to Arm A or Arm B. Patients with DIPG will be assigned to Arm C and have their treatment delivered into the ventricular system. The patient's newly engineered T cells will be administered via the indwelling catheter for two courses. In the first course patients in Arms A and B will receive a weekly dose of CAR T cells for three weeks, followed by a week off, an examination period, and then another course of weekly doses for three weeks. Patients in Arm C will receive a dose of CAR T cells every other week for 3 weeks, followed by a week off, an examination period, and then dosing every other week for 3 weeks. Following the two courses, patients in all Arms will undergo a series of studies including MRI to evaluate the effect of the CAR T cells and may have the opportunity to continue receiving additional courses of CAR T cells if the patient has not had adverse effects and if more of their T cells are available.

The hypothesis is that an adequate amount of B7H3-specific CAR T cells can be manufactured to complete two courses of treatment with 3 or 2 doses given on a weekly schedule followed by one week off in each course. The other hypothesis is that B7H3-specific CAR T cells can safely be administered through an indwelling CNS catheter or delivered directly into the brain via indwelling catheter to allow the T cells to directly interact with the tumor cells for each patient enrolled on the study. Secondary aims of the study will include evaluating CAR T cell distribution with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the extent to which CAR T cells egress or traffic into the peripheral circulation or blood stream, and, if tissues samples from multiple timepoints are available, also evaluate disease response to B7-H3 CAR T cell locoregional therapy.

Conditions

Central Nervous System Tumor; Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma; Diffuse Midline Glioma; Ependymoma; Medulloblastoma, Childhood; Germ Cell Tumor; Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor; Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor; Choroid Plexus Carcinoma; Pineoblastoma, Childhood; Glioma

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

ARM A (Tumor Cavity Infusion)

Patients with non-DIPG supratentorial tumors for which CAR T cells will be delivered into the tumor resection cavity

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

Intervention Type: BIOLOGICAL

Autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3 specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt given via indwelling central nervous system (CNS) catheter

ARM B (Ventricular System Infusion)

Patients with non-DIPG either infratentorial tumors or leptomeningeal tumors for which the CAR T cells will be delivered into the ventricular system

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

Intervention Type: BIOLOGICAL

Autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3 specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt given via indwelling central nervous system (CNS) catheter

ARM C (DIPG)

Patients with DIPG for whom CAR T cells will be delivered into the ventricular system

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

Intervention Type: BIOLOGICAL

Autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3 specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt given via indwelling central nervous system (CNS) catheter

Arm D (Non-pontine DMG)

Patients with non-pontine DMG for whom CAR T cells will be delivered into the ventricular system

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

Intervention Type: BIOLOGICAL

Autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3 specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt given via indwelling central nervous system (CNS) catheter

Interventions

SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

Autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3 specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt given via indwelling central nervous system (CNS) catheter

Intervention Type: BIOLOGICAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. Age ≥ 1 and ≤ 26 years

2. Diagnosis of refractory or recurrent CNS disease for which there is no standard therapy, or diagnosis of DIPG or DMG at any time point following completion of standard therapy

3. Able to tolerate apheresis, or has apheresis product available for use in manufacturing

4. CNS reservoir catheter, such as an Ommaya or Rickham catheter

5. Life expectancy ≥ 8 weeks

6. Lansky or Karnofsky score ≥ 60

7. If patient does not have previously obtained apheresis product, patient must have discontinued, and recovered from acute toxic effects of, all prior chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy and discontinue the following prior to enrollment:

1. ≥ 7 days post last chemotherapy/biologic therapy administration

2. 3 half lives or 30 days, whichever is shorter post last dose of anti-tumor antibody therapy

3. Must be at least 30 days from most recent cellular infusion

4. All systemically administered corticosteroid treatment therapy must be stable or decreasing within 1 week prior to enrollment with maximum dexamethasone dose of 2.5 mg/m2/day. Corticosteroid physiologic replacement therapy is allowed.

8. Adequate organ function

9. Adequate laboratory values

10. Patients of childbearing/fathering potential must agree to use highly effective contraception

Exclusion Criteria

1. Presence of Grade ≥ 3 cardiac dysfunction or symptomatic arrhythmia requiring intervention

2. Presence of primary immunodeficiency/bone marrow failure syndrome

3. Presence of clinical and/or radiographic evidence of impending herniation

4. Presence of >Grade 3 dysphagia

5. Presence of active malignancy other than the primary CNS tumor under study

6. Presence of active severe infection

7. Receiving any anti-cancer agents or chemotherapy

8. Pregnant or breastfeeding

9. Subject and/or authorized legal representative unwilling or unable to provide consent/assent for participation in the 15 year follow up period

10. Presence of any condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would prohibit the patient from undergoing treatment under this protocol

• Minimum Eligible Age: 1 Year
• Maximum Eligible Age: 26 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Seattle Children's Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Colleen Annesley

Medical Director, Immunotherapy

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Rebecca Ronsley, MD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Seattle Children's Hospital

Locations

Seattle Children's Hospital

Seattle, Washington, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Rebecca Ronsley, MD

Role: CONTACT

CBDCIntake@seattlechildrens.org

206-987-2106

Facility Contacts

Nick Vitanza, MD

Role: primary

CBDCIntake@seattlechildrens.org

206-987-2106

References

Vitanza NA, Ronsley R, Choe M, Seidel K, Huang W, Rawlings-Rhea SD, Beam M, Steinmetzer L, Wilson AL, Brown C, Beebe A, Lindgren C, Gustafson JA, Wein A, Holtzclaw S, Hoeppner C, Goldstein HE, Browd SR, Hauptman JS, Lee A, Ojemann JG, Crotty EE, Leary SES, Perez FA, Wright JN, Alonso MM, Dun MD, Foster JB, Hurst D, Kong A, Thomsen A, Orentas RJ, Albert CM, Pinto N, Annesley C, Gardner RA, Ho O, Pattabhi S, Gust J, Wendler JP, Park JR, Jensen MC. Intracerebroventricular B7-H3-targeting CAR T cells for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med. 2025 Mar;31(3):861-868. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03451-3. Epub 2025 Jan 7.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 39775044 (View on PubMed)

Golubovskaya V. CAR-T Cells Targeting Immune Checkpoint Pathway Players. Front Biosci (Landmark Ed). 2022 Apr 2;27(4):121. doi: 10.31083/j.fbl2704121.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 35468680 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

https://www.seattlechildrens.org/research/therapeutics/expanded-access-policy-scri-carb7h3s/

BrainChild-03 Expanded Access Policy

Other Identifiers

BrainChild-03

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id