University Health Network

Purpose

Patients with advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) who are not eligible for or have failed to respond to anti-PD1 immunotherapy have few treatment options. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) directed chimeric antigen receptor -T cell (CAR-T) therapy is a promising strategy; however, off-target toxicity remains a major obstacle due to expression in healthy tissues. To address this concern, the use of intratumoural (IT) administration of NRC’s novel nanobody-based EGFR CAR-T will be evaluated in the pre-clinical model of cSCC. The aims of the study will be to determine the dosage required for tumour control and evaluate the trafficking and functional T-cell phenotypes in IT administration. It is expected that IT administration will lead to substantially fewer CAR-T cells in all biological compartments than traditional intravenous (IV) administration, and that direct injection of cells will result in different T-cell populations within the tumour.