ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT04185038Updated Apr 13, 2026

Study of B7-H3-Specific CAR T Cell Locoregional Immunotherapy for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma/Diffuse Midline Glioma and Recurrent or Refractory Pediatric Central Nervous System Tumors

A Phase 1 interventional study of SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel in Central Nervous System Tumor, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma and Diffuse Midline Glioma, sponsored by Seattle Children's Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 1 Year to 26 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-13.

Sponsored by Seattle Children's Hospital · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Dec 2019; still recruiting 6 years 11 months later.
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
90
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
1 Year to 26 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a Phase 1 study of central nervous system (CNS) locoregional adoptive therapy with autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt. CAR T cells are delivered via an indwelling catheter into the tumor resection cavity or ventricular system in children and young adults with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), diffuse midline glioma (DMG), and recurrent or refractory CNS tumors.

A child or young adult meeting all eligibility criteria, including having a CNS catheter placed into the tumor resection cavity or into their ventricular system, and meeting none of the exclusion criteria, will have their T cells collected. The T cells will then be bioengineered into a second-generation CAR T cell that targets B7H3-expressing tumor cells. Patients will be assigned to one of 3 treatment arms based on location or type of their tumor. Patients with supratentorial tumors will be assigned to Arm A, and will receive their treatment into the tumor cavity. Patients with either infratentorial or metastatic/leptomeningeal tumors will be assigned to Arm B, and will have their treatment delivered into the ventricular system. The first 3 patients enrolled onto the study must be at least 15 years of age and assigned to Arm A or Arm B. Patients with DIPG will be assigned to Arm C and have their treatment delivered into the ventricular system. The patient's newly engineered T cells will be administered via the indwelling catheter for two courses. In the first course patients in Arms A and B will receive a weekly dose of CAR T cells for three weeks, followed by a week off, an examination period, and then another course of weekly doses for three weeks. Patients in Arm C will receive a dose of CAR T cells every other week for 3 weeks, followed by a week off, an examination period, and then dosing every other week for 3 weeks. Following the two courses, patients in all Arms will undergo a series of studies including MRI to evaluate the effect of the CAR T cells and may have the opportunity to continue receiving additional courses of CAR T cells if the patient has not had adverse effects and if more of their T cells are available.

The hypothesis is that an adequate amount of B7H3-specific CAR T cells can be manufactured to complete two courses of treatment with 3 or 2 doses given on a weekly schedule followed by one week off in each course. The other hypothesis is that B7H3-specific CAR T cells can safely be administered through an indwelling CNS catheter or delivered directly into the brain via indwelling catheter to allow the T cells to directly interact with the tumor cells for each patient enrolled on the study. Secondary aims of the study will include evaluating CAR T cell distribution with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the extent to which CAR T cells egress or traffic into the peripheral circulation or blood stream, and, if tissues samples from multiple timepoints are available, also evaluate disease response to B7-H3 CAR T cell locoregional therapy.

02

Conditions studied

  • Central Nervous System Tumor
  • Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma
  • Diffuse Midline Glioma
  • Ependymoma
  • Medulloblastoma, Childhood
  • Germ Cell Tumor
  • Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor
  • Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor
  • Choroid Plexus Carcinoma
  • Pineoblastoma, Childhood
  • Glioma

Keywords

  • CNS, CAR T cell, B7-H3, pediatric, young adult, brain tumor, DIPG, DMG
03

In context

Central Nervous System Neoplasms

699 studies on the registry are indexed under Central Nervous System Neoplasms; 66 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 90 is above the median of 35 across 487 interventional studies indexed under Central Nervous System Neoplasms.

Browse Central Nervous System Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Seattle Children's Hospital is the lead sponsor of 215 studies on the registry; 44 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
1 Year to 26 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Age ≥ 1 and ≤ 26 years
  2. Diagnosis of or recurrent CNS disease for which there is no standard therapy, or diagnosis of DIPG or DMG at any time point following completion of standard therapy
  3. Able to tolerate apheresis, or has apheresis product available for use in manufacturing
  4. CNS reservoir catheter, such as an Ommaya or Rickham catheter
  5. ≥ 8 weeks
  6. Lansky or score ≥ 60
  7. If patient does not have previously obtained apheresis product, patient must have discontinued, and recovered from acute toxic effects of, all prior chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy and discontinue the following prior to enrollment:

    1. ≥ 7 days post last chemotherapy/biologic therapy administration
    2. 3 half lives or 30 days, whichever is shorter post last dose of anti-tumor antibody therapy
    3. Must be at least 30 days from most recent cellular infusion
    4. All systemically administered treatment therapy must be stable or decreasing within 1 week prior to enrollment with maximum dexamethasone dose of 2.5 mg/m2/day. Corticosteroid physiologic replacement therapy is allowed.
  8. Adequate organ function
  9. Adequate laboratory values
  10. Patients of childbearing/fathering potential must agree to use highly effective

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Presence of Grade ≥ 3 cardiac dysfunction or symptomatic arrhythmia requiring intervention
  2. Presence of primary immunodeficiency/bone marrow failure syndrome
  3. Presence of clinical and/or radiographic evidence of impending herniation
  4. Presence of >Grade 3 dysphagia
  5. Presence of active other than the primary CNS tumor under study
  6. Presence of active severe infection
  7. Receiving any anti-cancer agents or chemotherapy
  8. Pregnant or breastfeeding
  9. Subject and/or authorized legal representative unwilling or unable to provide consent/assent for participation in the 15 year follow up period
  10. Presence of any condition that, in the opinion of the investigator, would prohibit the patient from undergoing treatment under this protocol
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(6)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Relapsed and refractory

Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Karnofsky performance status (KPS)

A 0–100 scale of how well someone can carry out everyday activities. 100 is no complaints and no signs of illness; 70 is able to look after yourself but not to work or keep up normal activity; 50 is needing considerable help and frequent medical care.

Studies often ask for 60 or 70 and above. Your doctor gives the score.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
90 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    ARM A (Tumor Cavity Infusion) - [CLOSED TO ENROLLMENT]

    Patients with non-DIPG supratentorial tumors for which CAR T cells will be delivered into the tumor resection cavity

    Biological: SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

  • Experimental
    ARM B (Ventricular System Infusion) - [CLOSED TO ENROLLMENT]

    Patients with non-DIPG either infratentorial tumors or leptomeningeal tumors for which the CAR T cells will be delivered into the ventricular system

    Biological: SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

  • Experimental
    ARM C (DIPG) - [CLOSED TO ENROLLMENT]

    Patients with DIPG for whom CAR T cells will be delivered into the ventricular system

    Biological: SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

  • Experimental
    Arm D (Non-pontine DMG)

    Patients with non-pontine DMG for whom CAR T cells will be delivered into the ventricular system

    Biological: SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

  • Experimental
    Arm E

    Patients with DIPG who will receive up to 15 doses of CAR T cells delivered into the ventricular system

    Biological: SCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

Interventions

  • BiologicalSCRI-CARB7H3(s); B7H3-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cel

    Autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lentivirally transduced to express a B7H3 specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and EGFRt given via indwelling central nervous system (CNS) catheter

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Establish the safety, defined by the adverse events, of B7H3-specific CAR T cell infusions delivered by a central nervous system (CNS) catheter into the tumor resection cavity or ventricular system

    The type, frequency, severity, and duration of adverse events as a result of B7H3-specific CAR T cell infusion will be summarized

    Time frame: up to 7 months

  2. Establish the feasibility, defined by the ability to produce and administer CAR T cell product, of B7H3-specific CAR T cell product infusions delivered by a central nervous system (CNS) catheter into the tumor resection cavity or ventricular system

    The proportion of products successfully manufactured and infused will be measured

    Time frame: 28 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. Assess the distribution of CNS-delivered B7H3-specific CAR T cells distribution within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral blood

    The trafficking of B7H3-specific CAR T cell product through the CSF by measuring remaining CAR T cells from a prior infusion at the time of each infusion and the trafficking of B7H3-specific CAR T cells from the CSF into the peripheral blood will be evaluated.

    Time frame: up to 6 months

  2. Assessment of disease response of B7H3-expressing DIPG and DMG tumors to B7H3 specific CAR T cell therapy delivered into the CNS

    The response of DIPG and DMG tumors to B7H3-specific CAR T cell therapy delivered into the CNS will be determined by evaluating CSF for tumor cells and by CNS imaging with MRIs

    Time frame: up to 6 months

  3. Assessment of disease response of B7H3-expressing refractory or recurrent central nervous system (CNS) tumors to B7H3 specific CAR T cell therapy delivered into the tumor cavity or into the CNS

    The response of refractory or recurrent CNS tumors to B7H3-specific CAR T cell therapy delivered into the tumor cavity or into the CNS will be determined by evaluating CSF for tumor cells and by CNS imaging with MRIs

    Time frame: up to 6 months

Other outcomes

  1. Quantitative biomarker assessment of anti tumor CAR T cell functional activity

    The presence of biomarkers of CAR T cell functional activity, such as cytokines, will be quantified via protein expression analysis in CSF. These findings will be correlated with safety determined by occurrence of adverse events, and response determined by disease evaluations via CSF cytology and MRI imaging of the CNS.

    Time frame: up to 6 months

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Ronsley R, Choe M, Wright J, Seidel K, Lee A, Wendler J, Annesley C, Jensen MC, Park JR, Vitanza NA, Gust J. Tumor inflammation-associated neurotoxicity in children with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma receiving B7-H3-targeting CAR T cells on BrainChild-03. Neurooncol Pract. 2025 Aug 3;13(1):105-111. doi: 10.1093/nop/npaf080. eCollection 2026 Feb. PubMed 41798119 ↗
  • Vitanza NA, Ronsley R, Choe M, Seidel K, Huang W, Rawlings-Rhea SD, Beam M, Steinmetzer L, Wilson AL, Brown C, Beebe A, Lindgren C, Gustafson JA, Wein A, Holtzclaw S, Hoeppner C, Goldstein HE, Browd SR, Hauptman JS, Lee A, Ojemann JG, Crotty EE, Leary SES, Perez FA, Wright JN, Alonso MM, Dun MD, Foster JB, Hurst D, Kong A, Thomsen A, Orentas RJ, Albert CM, Pinto N, Annesley C, Gardner RA, Ho O, Pattabhi S, Gust J, Wendler JP, Park JR, Jensen MC. Intracerebroventricular B7-H3-targeting CAR T cells for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med. 2025 Mar;31(3):861-868. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03451-3. Epub 2025 Jan 7. PubMed 39775044 ↗
  • Golubovskaya V. CAR-T Cells Targeting Immune Checkpoint Pathway Players. Front Biosci (Landmark Ed). 2022 Apr 2;27(4):121. doi: 10.31083/j.fbl2704121. PubMed 35468680 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 13, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04185038
Responsible party
Colleen Annesley (Medical Director, Immunotherapy, Seattle Children's Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Dec 4, 2019
Start date
Dec 11, 2019
Primary completion
May 2027 (estimated)
Completion
May 2042 (estimated)
Last update
Apr 13, 2026

Study contacts

Rebecca Ronsley, MD
Contact
CBDCIntake@seattlechildrens.org
206-987-2106
Rebecca Ronsley, MD
study chair · Seattle Children's Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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