At first blush this sound analogous to how we make mutant / resistant strains in the lab
and pulsing antibiotics is a great way to induce resistance. point taken. Whether or not such a strategy will result in resistant leukemic cells is a theoretical risk
If you are actually lowering disease burden, why not let the CAR-Ts persist?
If you have an AE that is correlated to dx burden like cytokine storm then it could abate as the disease is eradicated without the need for turning off the T cells, but there still could be cases where a reprieve could be the safest course of action
Not trying to be combative or obtuse, just trying to reason out the setting where an On/Off CAR-T would be necessary
no offense taken - you make valid points about how an on/off is by no means a panacea and may have limited usefulness, especially once there is more experience w prophylaxis and management of the AEs. However I also think it is premature to be totally dismissive of the value of such switches
1. To ensure that CAR is strong enough and persistent enough to generate anti-cancer response. 2. To be able to control Cytokine release storm 3. Control neurotoxicities
Able to fine tune the CAR and immune response = tolerable treatment, optimized etc