Jia-Jin Chen

1 month ago | nature.com | Mei-Ling Cheng |Yu-Ming Chuang |Hsiang-Yu Tang |Jia-Jin Chen |Hsuan Liu |Ping-Chih Ho | +12 more

Preclinical studies have shown that asparagine deprivation enhances T cell antitumour responses. Here we apply compassionate use of l-asparaginase, usually employed to treat blood malignancies, on patients with recurrent metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The use of l-asparaginase notably enhances immune-checkpoint blockade therapy in patients by strengthening CD8+T cell fitness. Our study shows that this combination is a promising avenue for clinical application and provides further mechanistic insight into how asparagine restriction rewires T cell metabolism. The compassionate use of l-asparaginase in patients suffering from nasopharyngeal carcinoma substantially strengthens the efficacy of immune-checkpoint blockade therapy by enhancing T cell fitness.