Disrupting cancer treatment norms to deliver better patient outcomes

We are leveraging the natural power of monocytes and macrophages by engineering them to attack tumors. CAR-Macrophages (chimeric antigen receptor macrophages) can eat away at tumors and lead to long-term anti-tumor immunity, giving patients a promising new long term strategy in the fight against cancer.

A unique therapeutic approach

Carisma is pioneering the development of CAR-Macrophages, a disruptive approach to immunotherapy. Our technology leverages advances in macrophage biology, chimeric antigen receptor engineering, and adoptive cellular therapy for the treatment of human disease.

By engaging both the innate and adaptive immune systems to launch a multi-pronged attack on tumors, CAR-Macrophages address the key challenges faced by current cell therapies:

Challenge: Tumors control which immune effector cells have access to their microenvironment blocking infiltration of T and NK cells.

Solution: Macrophages are actively recruited into tumors traveling down a chemokine gradient.

Challenge: An immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment shuts down infiltrating immune cells.

Solution: CAR-Macrophages are locked into an anti-tumor, or M1, phenotype, and drive T cell recruitment and immune activation of the tumor.

Challenge: Significant cell-to-cell heterogeneity within a tumor mass, allowing for the development of resistance to single-antigen targeted therapies.

Solution: Macrophages are professional antigen presenting cells, capable of activating the patient’s own adaptive immune system against multiple tumor-specific antigens present in the tumor mass.