On May 23, 2025 Verismo Therapeutics, a clinical-stage CAR T company pioneering the KIR-CAR platform, reported additional details on the Trials in Progress poster presentation at the upcoming 2025 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, being held from May 30 – June 3, 2025 in Chicago, IL (Press release, Verismo Therapeutics, MAY 23, 2025, View Source [SID1234653367]). The trial Principal Investigator, Janos L. Tanyi, MD, PhD, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will present an overview of the ongoing STAR-101 Phase 1 clinical study (NCT05568680).
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The STAR-101 trial is a first-in-human, multicenter, open-label, Phase 1 dose-escalation study designed to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of SynKIR-110 in patients with advanced mesothelin-expressing tumors, including ovarian cancer, mesothelioma, and cholangiocarcinoma who have received at least 1 prior line of systemic therapy. SynKIR-110 utilizes Verismo’s novel KIR-CAR platform, employing a multi-chain signaling approach derived from natural killer cells in T cells. Preclinically, this unique mechanism has shown the ability to reduce T cell exhaustion and improve anti-tumor activity and functional persistence, thereby potentially overcoming critical hurdles that limit traditional CAR T cell therapies in solid tumors.
"This study represents an important advancement for ovarian cancer, a disease with few available treatment options," Dr. Tanyi said. "This novel therapy could have the potential to impact solid tumors by overcoming key limitations of existing CAR T cell treatments."
Poster Details:
Poster Board Number: 522a
Location: Hall A – Posters and Exhibits
Abstract Number: TPS5630
Abstract Title: SynKIR-CAR T Cell Advanced Research (STAR)-101 Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with advanced mesothelin-expressing ovarian cancer, mesothelioma, or cholangiocarcinoma.
Presenting Author: Janos L. Tanyi, M.D., Ph.D., Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Session Title: Gynecologic Cancer
Session Date: June 1, 2025, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM CDT
The Poster will be made available on the company’s website following the presentation.
About the KIR-CAR Platform
The KIR-CAR platform is a multi-chain CAR T cell therapy that has shown highly effective prolonged solid tumor treatment in otherwise CAR-resistant preclinical animal models with challenging tumor microenvironments. Using NK cell derived KIR and DAP12 split signaling provides a novel paired activation and co-stimulation separate from the usual T cell stimulation pathways. KIR-CAR also enables sustained chimeric receptor expression with improved long-term CAR T cell function and decreased T cell exhaustion. This results in CAR T cell resistance to tumor immunosuppression, prolonged functional persistence and improved tumor elimination. Together, this platform provides the potential for improving CAR T treatment in both solid and hematologic tumors.