Marker Therapeutics Inc (MRKR)

[microcapbiotech]

Phantom - Blu - science people - CRISPR article:

https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2019/november/results-first-us-trial-crispr-edited-immune-cells-cancer-patients-safety-of-approach

Opinions on CRISPR vs CAR-T vs MultiTAA?

"The approach in this study is closely related to CAR T cell therapy, which engineers patients’ own immune cells to fight their cancer, but it has some key differences. Just like CAR T, researchers begin by collecting a patient’s T cells through a blood draw. However, instead of arming these cells with a receptor like CD19, the team first uses CRISPR/Cas9 editing to remove three genes. The first two edits remove a T cell’s natural receptors to make sure the immune cells bind to the right part of the cancer cells. The third edit removes PD-1, a natural checkpoint that sometimes blocks T cells from doing their job. At that point, a lentivirus is used to insert an affinity-enhanced T cell receptor (TCR), which tells the edited T cells to target an antigen called NY-ESO-1.
Our use of CRISPR editing is geared toward improving the effectiveness of gene therapies, not editing a patient’s DNA."

P.S., this wasn't a public CRISPR company like Editas (partnered with JUNO on cancer) , it was a private company, TMUNITY.