We are pleased to announce the publication of our latest research in Gut, describing the development of C9-66 CAR-T cells targeting oncofetal chondroitin sulfate (ofCS) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

PDAC is one of the most aggressive solid tumors, and one where effective treatments remain limited. ofCS is expressed across a range of solid tumors while being largely absent from normal adult tissues, making it an attractive target for tumor-selective immunotherapy.

In this study, our collaborators developed an optimized CAR-T construct based on our lead antibody Vartumab C9. This CAR-T therapy showed improved T-cell persistence and reduced exhaustion in pre-clinical models of PDAC, including murine and patient-derived PDAC models.

This study demonstrated that ofCS is a relevant target for cell therapies, and that tumor-specific targeting through ofCS can be combined with approaches that address the biological constraints of CAR-T therapy in solid tumors. Given the broad expression of ofCS across solid cancers, these findings also support further development of ofCS-directed therapies beyond pancreatic cancer.

We thank the patients and the various funding agencies and collaborators involved in this work.

Read more about it here: https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2025-337545