Local delivery of CAR T cells targeting fibroblast activation protein is safe in patients with pleural mesothelioma: first report of FAPME, a phase I clinical trial

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a cancer derived from mesothelial cells growing in the thoracic cavity with few treatment options. Despite the use of multi-modality approaches, the median survival after diagnosis does not exceed two years.1 Adoptive cell transfer of genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has shown great success in hematological malignancies,2 but are still under investigation in solid tumors. Due to the confined spread of MPM, local delivery of CAR T cells might overcome a major challenge in CAR T cell treatment, namely successful homing to the tumor tissue.