Farwell’s grant-winning proposal is focused on the imaging of CAR T cells – a new approach to treating cancer in which white blood cells called T cells are engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) – which help the T cells to specifically target tumors. This treatment has shown dramatic activity in several blood cancers, including advanced, chemotherapy-resistant leukemia.
However, there is currently no way to track CAR T cells once they’re administered to a patient, meaning it’s difficult to assess how effectively the cells are working and what toxic side effects they might be causing. Farwell and his team want to develop a new, traceable system that carries a potent “suicide gene,” which would allow doctors to monitor the CAR T cells in action using PET imaging, and – if undesirable or toxic effects occur – activate a gene that would destroy the CAR T cells. The hope is that this platform will find widespread use as an imaging tool for CAR T cell therapy, and ultimately help in the design of more effective cell-based therapies for cancer.
Beatty’s work will focus on the role of the liver in the body’s response to immunotherapy. The liver plays a key role in regulating the body’s immune system, and current research shows immunotherapy may be less effective when cancer has already spread there. Beatty’s team will test the hypothesis that cancer, as it develops, influences the microenvironment in the liver, causing it to be more susceptible to cancer and to negatively impact the effectiveness of immunotherapy. They will also investigate approaches to make immunotherapies more effective once cancer has spread to the liver.
The SU2C Immuno-Oncology IRG program helps early-career scientists who are pursuing innovative cancer research projects focused on immunotherapy. All recipients are no more than seven years into their first independent, tenure-track appointments, and all of them are researching high-reward immunology proposals that have the potential to translate to the clinic to help in the fight against cancer.
The American Association for Cancer Research is the scientific partner of SU2C, and each researcher officially received their grants at the AACR Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
###
Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $6.7 billion enterprise.The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2016 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2016, Penn Medicine provided $393 million to benefit our community.
RSS