Researchers analyzing patient data from Kite’s Yescarta CAR-T trials identified genetic signatures associated with toxicity risk. In a study published in Science Immunology, investigators led by Massachusetts General Hospital oncologist Mark Leick analyzed data from the Zuma-1 and Zuma-7 studies of axi-cel. The work highlighted STXBP2 as a gene of interest, with mutations in Zuma-1 patients linked to treatment toxicity patterns. The researchers did not observe the same relationship in Zuma-7, which they attribute to differences in disease severity across the cohorts. The findings support further engineering work aimed at reducing CAR-T adverse events and improving therapy safety variability at the design stage using patient or tumor-linked risk biology.