Pomalidomide improves the function of CD133-or HER2-specific CAR T cells

Chimeric antigen receptor(CAR)T-cell therapy is mostly limited to hematological malignancies and has a poor effect on solid tumors.CAR T cells as a kind of immune cell may be affected by some immunomodulatory drugs such as pomalidomide,so the use of pomalidomide may improve the effect of CAR T cells on solid tumors.In this study,CD133-or HER2-specific CAR T cells were chosen to investigate whether pomalidomide can regulate the function of CAR T cells in vitro.We found that pomalidomide can significantly enhance the ability of CD133-CAR T cells and HER2-CAR T cells to kill tumor cells and increase the cytokine secretion of CD133-CAR T cells and HER2-CAR T cells.Also,pomalidomide was shown to induce down-regulation of protein levels of IL-2 transcriptional repressors Aiolos and Ikaros in CAR T cells.This study suggests that the combination of pomalidomide and CAR T cells may be a new strategy for the treatment of solid tumors.