A clinical trial is underway to examine the role of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for children and young adults with relapsed or refractory HER-2-positive central nervous system tumors.

“[Although] survival rates have improved for pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors, many of the children we care for have no life-saving therapy options if their disease recurs,” Nicholas A. Vitanza, MD, neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, said in a press release. “We have to find a way to give them a life after they recur and, ultimately, be able to offer initial treatments with fewer long-term side effects.”