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Haematological cancer

Base-edited CAR7 T cells are safe and efficacious in R/R T-ALL

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology (2026)Cite this article

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Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is considered the only curative option for patients with relapsed and/or refractory T cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (R/R T-ALL) after chemotherapy, although deep remission after consolidation (minimal residual disease (MRD) <10−4) is typically required for HSCT eligibility. Given that not all patients with R/R T-ALL have such deep responses, bridging therapy with autologous or donor-matched allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting antigens including CD7 has been used to enable HSCT. Now, a phase I trial demonstrates that allogeneic base-edited (BE)-CAR7 cells are a safe and potentially efficacious option in this setting.

BE-CAR7 cells were generated using CRISPR-guided base editing to disrupt the expression of TCRαβ, CD52 and CAR7 in donor T cells, to circumvent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), render resistance to lymphodepletion with anti-CD52 antibodies and avoid CAR T cell fratricide, respectively. Base editing was combined with lentiviral transduction of a CD7-targeted CAR.

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  1. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology http://www.nature.com/nrclinonc

    Diana Romero

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  1. Diana Romero
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Correspondence to Diana Romero.

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Romero, D. Base-edited CAR7 T cells are safe and efficacious in R/R T-ALL. Nat Rev Clin Oncol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-025-01118-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-025-01118-7

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