What if the solution to aggressive, deadly cancers was already sitting in a freezer? A universal, CRISPR-edited cell therapy is doing what few thought possible—turning last-chance cases into remissions.
Key Points at a Glance
- New universal CAR-T cell therapy shows up to 91% response rate in T cell cancers
- Engineered using CRISPR, the cells are off-the-shelf and ready-to-use
- Most patients in the trial had exhausted all other treatment options
- Unlike current CAR-T therapies, this version is not personalized but universal
- Side effects are mostly manageable; larger trials are underway
Until now, aggressive T cell cancers like T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and lymphoblastic lymphoma were seen as nearly unbeatable in their later stages. Standard therapies often fail, leaving patients with mere months to live. But a team at Washington University School of Medicine may have just changed the game—with a therapy born from CRISPR, biotech innovation, and the ambition to make cancer treatment faster and more accessible.
The new treatment, dubbed WU-CART-007, is a universal CAR-T cell therapy—meaning it can be administered to any patient, not just custom-made for individuals. Developed by WashU spinout Wugen, the therapy has delivered astonishing results in a Phase 1/2 international trial: among 11 patients who could be evaluated after receiving the full 900-million-cell dose, 10 responded and 8 entered full remission.
“These patients had nothing left. Most had already relapsed after stem cell transplants or multiple failed therapies,” said lead investigator Dr. Armin Ghobadi. “Yet we saw response rates of up to 91%, with manageable side effects. That’s unprecedented.”
The magic lies in the bioengineering. Using CRISPR, researchers removed key elements from donor T cells that would otherwise trigger immune conflict or cause the modified cells to attack each other. One major obstacle was CAR-T cell fratricide—since the therapy targets CD7, a protein on T cells, researchers had to ensure the therapeutic T cells wouldn’t destroy themselves.
“It’s like teaching soldiers to identify a uniform and not shoot their own side,” said co-creator Dr. John DiPersio, who developed the platform in his WashU lab. “By removing certain antigens, we made the CAR-T cells smart enough to hunt cancer, not each other.”
Of the 13 patients who received the full dose, 11 were evaluable. Eight went into complete remission. Six of those received follow-up stem cell transplants and remained cancer-free 6 to 12 months later. That’s a remarkable leap in outcomes for a cancer with a 6-month average survival rate after relapse.
Most patients experienced cytokine release syndrome—a common side effect in CAR-T therapies—but nearly 90% of cases were mild to moderate. A few patients experienced more severe immune responses or neurotoxicity, but adverse effects were largely treatable.
But perhaps the most transformative feature is logistical. Standard CAR-T therapies require extracting a patient’s T cells, customizing them, and re-infusing weeks later. The new method skips that entirely. The cells are made in advance from healthy donors, cryopreserved, and ready when needed—no long waits, no manufacturing bottlenecks.
“For aggressive cancers, time isn’t just money—it’s survival,” said Ghobadi. “An off-the-shelf option could be the difference between life and death.”
With support from the NIH and venture backing, a larger global clinical trial is now underway to test the therapy’s long-term effectiveness and safety in more patients. If results hold, WU-CART-007 could become the first approved universal CAR-T cell therapy for T cell malignancies—ushering in a new era of precision medicine that’s both powerful and practical.
“We’re at the frontier of a new kind of cancer care,” said DiPersio. “It’s fast, it’s engineered, and it’s built to save those who were previously out of options.”
