A PILOT study, presented at EBMT 2025 Annual Meeting, on adoptive cell therapy using memory T lymphocytes from convalescent donors shows promising results in treating severe infections in immunocompromised patients. This abstract was recognised as one of the ‘Best Young Abstract Awards’ for outstanding poster presentations.
The researchers infused CD45RA- cells containing specific T memory lymphocytes was administered to 15 patients with single or multiple infections caused by Cytomegalovirus (n=3), BK virus (n=4), Adenovirus (n=3), Epstein-Barr virus (n=4) and Aspergillus (n=2). The cell therapy came from three types of donors: solid organ transplant or hematopoietic stem cells transplantation donor, familiar donor, or 3rd party donor.
All patients experienced pathogen clearance, lymphocyte recovery, and resolution of symptoms following 149 infusions, with no graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) or adverse events observed 21 days following infusion. Patients received single or multiple infusions of donor T cells, with doses ranging from 1×105 to 10×107 cells/kg.
This research highlights the potential of adoptive cell therapy with CD45RA- T cells containing pathogen-specific memory cells to treat severe infectious diseases, such as SARS-CoV2, BKS and EBV, amongst others. However, further research in a prospective clinical trial is needed to validate these findings and establish optimal treatment protocols.
Reference
Sanz KAA et al. Abstract: A135. Presented at EBMT 2025 Annual Meeting; 31 Mar -2 April; Florence, Italy.
