Celyad - Model CYAD-02 - Autologous CAR T Candidate

CYAD-02 is an investigational CAR T therapy that engineers an all-in-one vector approach in patient’s T cells to express both (i) the NKG2D chimeric antigen receptor, a receptor expressed on natural killer (NK) cells that binds to eight stress-induced ligands (NKG2DL) expressed on tumor cells, and (ii) short hairpin RNA (shRNA) technology to knockdown the expression of NKG2D ligands MICA and MICB on the CAR T cells. In preclinical models, shRNA-mediated knockdown of MICA and MICB expression on NKG2D CAR T cells has shown enhanced in vitro expansion, as well as enhanced in vivo engraftment and persistence, of the CAR T cells, as compared to first-generation NKG2D-based CAR T cells.