On April 21, 2026 Verismo Therapeutics, a clinical-stage CAR T cell therapy company pioneering a novel multi-chain KIR-CAR platform technology, reported new preclinical in vivo data for SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR living medicine, highlighting KIR-CAR’s superior anti-tumor activity and improved cytokine profile compared to conventional single-chain CAR T in B cell malignancies. Early clinical data for SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR were also announced from a multi-site Phase 1 clinical trial, CELESTIAL-301 (NCT06544265) for patients with B cell lymphomas, highlighting a patient’s ongoing complete response after 6 months. These data were presented on April 21 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego, CA (Poster Number: 5193).

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"While single-chain CAR T therapies have revolutionized blood cancer treatment, nearly half of blood cancer patients who initially respond relapse as early as six months after treatment,[1]" said Laura A. Johnson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Verismo Therapeutics. "This urgent patient need is precisely why we designed multi-chain SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR with a natural ‘on-off’ switch to potentially address chronic T cell exhaustion and increase durability.

"We are excited to report new preclinical data showing SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR improved anti-tumor activity with reduced cytokine production compared to a conventional single-chain CAR T approach. We’re also encouraged that early clinical observation of one patient in our CELESTIAL-301 trial achieved a complete tumor response that remains ongoing beyond six months. Together, these data support continued clinical evaluation of the KIR-CAR platform and SynKIR-310, specifically in patients with relapsed or refractory B cell malignancies, including follicular lymphoma."

These preclinical data were shared during poster session "Adoptive Cell Therapy 2" by Megan Blair, Ph.D., In Vivo Lead at Verismo Therapeutics, on April 21, showing multi-chain SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR had enhanced anti-tumor activity in vivo compared to tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel analogs, in B-NHL xenograft mouse models, with reduced cytokine production, while maintaining comparable T cell persistence. These findings suggest a potential favorable benefit-risk profile of multi-chain KIR-CAR compared to traditional single-chain CAR T.

Early clinical data from CELESTIAL-301 were also shared, highlighting treatment of a 70-year-old male patient with follicular lymphoma who received SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR at the lowest dose level (DL1) and achieved complete tumor response 28 days later, which remains ongoing as of their most recent 6-month follow-up appointment.

The CELESTIAL-301 trial is supported in part by the Institute for Follicular Lymphoma Innovation (IFLI), a global non-profit private foundation dedicated to accelerating the development of innovative treatment options for patients with follicular lymphoma, which has committed up to $4.05 million to advance SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR development in follicular lymphoma (FL) and expand patient enrollment in the trial.

"IFLI invested in SynKIR-310 because we believe its novel KIR-CAR architecture has the potential to meaningfully change the treatment trajectory for patients with follicular lymphoma who have exhausted standard options, including prior CAR T therapy," said David McCullagh, IFLI Managing Director. "Today’s data provide an important early signal supporting the potential of this platform. We look forward to continuing to support Verismo as they advance SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR toward broader clinical development in FL, along with other B cell malignancies."

About SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR and the CELESTIAL-301 Clinical Trial

SynKIR-310 is an investigational autologous engineered cell therapy developed using Verismo’s KIR-CAR platform. This approach utilizes a multi-chain, split-signaling architecture derived from natural killer cells, designed to drive long-term anti-tumor T cell function without T cell exhaustion. By keeping antigen recognition separate from T cell activation, the multi-chain architecture is intended to sustain T cell activity to provide a more durable response compared to single-chain CAR T approaches.

CELESTIAL-301 is a Phase 1 first-in-human, multi-center, open-label, basket clinical trial, evaluating SynKIR-310 KIR-CAR in patients with relapsed/refractory B-NHL, such as FL, and including those who have or have not previously received CD19 CAR T therapies. See clinicaltrials.gov (NCT06544265) for more information.

(Press release, Verismo Therapeutics, APR 21, 2026, View Source [SID1234664638])