Engineered immune cells take on glioblastoma in first human trial
NCT ID NCT07193628
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This early-phase trial is testing a new type of immunotherapy called CAR-T cells in 14 people with glioblastoma that has come back or not responded to treatment. The CAR-T cells are designed to target two proteins found on glioblastoma cells and are given directly into the fluid around the brain. The main goal is to see if the treatment is safe and to find the best dose.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- EPC-003 CAR-T cells (a type of immune cell therapy)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could point toward a new treatment option for patients with recurrent glioblastoma, a brain cancer with few effective therapies.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very early, small phase 1 trial with only 14 participants. It primarily tests safety, not effectiveness. There is a risk of serious side effects from the CAR-T cells.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 1
The first testing in people. Mainly checks safety and dose, usually in a small group.
- Participants
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About 14 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Sep 2025
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 75 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * 1: Agree to comply with the trial treatment plan and visit schedule, voluntarily enroll in the trial, and sign the informed consent form in writing. 2: On the day of signing the informed consent form, the subject shall be aged between 18 and 75 years inclusive, with no restriction on gender. 3: Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score ≥ 60% 4: Patients with B7H3- and/or IL13Ra2-positive recurrent or refractory glioblastoma confirmed by histopathology and/or cytology, meeting the following criteria: The positive expression rate of B7H3 \> 30%; The positive expression rate of IL13RA2 \> 30%; Disease progression or recurrence after standard treatment (postoperative radiotherapy combined with concurrent and adjuvant chemotherapy with temozolomide); The subject has at least one measurable lesion (based on RANO criteria, with mutually perpendicular diameters both ≥ 10mm). 5: Expected survival time ≥ 12 weeks; 6: Subjects must have adequate organ function, meeting the following laboratory test criteria: Bone Marrow Function: Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) ≥ 1.5×10⁹/L; Platelet Count (PLT) ≥ 100×10⁹/L; Absolute Lymphocyte Count ≥ 0.3×10⁹/L; Hemoglobin (HGB) ≥ 8.0 g/dL. Liver function: Serum total bilirubin (T-Bil) ≤ 1.5 × upper limit of normal (ULN); for patients without liver involvement, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ≤ 3 × ULN; for patients with liver involvement, ALT and AST ≤ 5 × ULN; Renal function: Serum creatinine ≤ 1.6 × ULN, or creatinine clearance (Ccr) ≥ 50 mL/min (calculated according to the Cockcroft-Gault formula); Coagulation function: International normalized ratio (INR) ≤ 1.5 × ULN; activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) ≤ 1.5 × ULN; Left ventricular ejection fraction \> 50%. 7: Male subjects with reproductive potential and female subjects of childbearing age must agree to use effective contraceptive measures from the time of signing the informed consent form until 1 year after the last administration of the trial drug. For female subjects of childbearing age, the pregnancy test result within ≤7 days before the administration of the trial drug must be negative. Exclusion Criteria: * 1: The lesion is located in the posterior fossa structures such as the cerebellum, pons, and medulla oblongata. 2: Complicated with meningeal metastasis or detectable malignant tumor cells in cerebrospinal fluid. 3: Presence of epilepsy and/or high intracranial pressure that cannot be controlled or stabilized with medication. 4: Subjects with current comorbid other central nervous system (CNS) diseases or a history of CNS diseases within 6 months prior to screening, such as uncontrolled cerebrovascular accident, transient ischemic attack, stroke, and any other autoimmune diseases involving the central nervous system. 5: Subjects who have been diagnosed with other malignant tumors within 5 years prior to screening, excluding adequately treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix, basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, localized prostate cancer after radical treatment, and ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast after radical treatment. 6: Subjects who have previously received treatment targeting B7H3/IL13Ra2. 7: Subjects who have previously received gene therapy or cell therapy. 8: Subjects who have a history of long-term use of immunosuppressive drugs or high-dose steroid hormones; inhaled hormones used for the treatment of chronic bronchial inflammation or asthma are not affected. 9: Subjects who have previously received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; or those who are eligible for and agree to undergo autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. 10: Uncontrolled active bacterial, viral, or fungal infection. 11: Any unstable systemic disease, including but not limited to cardiovascular diseases such as unstable angina pectoris, myocardial infarction (within 6 months before screening), congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association \[NYHA\] classification ≥ III), severe arrhythmias requiring medication, as well as pulmonary, hepatic, renal, digestive system, or metabolic diseases. 12: Subjects who have received oral anticoagulant therapy within 1 week prior to CAR-T cell infusion. 13: Subjects who have received anti-tumor therapy (including chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, TTfield therapy, investigational trial drugs, and other anti-tumor treatments) within 4 weeks prior to cell infusion or within 5 half-lives of the drug (whichever is shorter), and/or have not recovered from toxic reactions (recovery to CTCAE Version 5.0 grade ≤ 1) (except for alopecia; peripheral neurotoxicity with grade ≤ 2 is acceptable). 14: Subjects who have received radiotherapy within 12 weeks prior to cell infusion (those with progressive disease outside the irradiated field or those in whom pseudo-progression after radiotherapy/chemotherapy can be excluded are eligible for enrollment). 15: Subjects who have undergone major surgery or significant traumatic injury within 4 weeks prior to informed consent, or have not recovered from the side effects of surgery, or plan to undergo major surgery during the trial period. 16: Positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg); positive for hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) with peripheral blood HBV DNA quantitative test result above the lower limit of detection; positive for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody with peripheral blood HCV RNA quantitative test result above the lower limit of detection; positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody; subjects with active syphilis infection. 17: Pregnant or lactating women. 18: Investigators consider that the subject has other conditions that may affect compliance or make them unsuitable for participation in this trial.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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the Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University
RECRUITINGHangzhou, Zhejiang, 210000, China
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