Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is supporting a new translational research team to explore how chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapy can be applied to pancreatic cancer.
The Stand Up To Cancer–Lustgarten Foundation CAR T Translational Research Team will be directed by three investigators at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine who have been pioneers in CAR T-cell therapy development: Carl H. June, MD, the Richard W. Vague professor in immunotherapy; Shelley L. Berger, PhD, the Daniel S. Och university professor; and E. John Wherry, PhD, Richard and Barbara Schiffrin president’s distinguished professor of microbiology, and director, Institute for Immunology, according to a press release from the American Association for Cancer Research, SU2C’s Scientific Partner.
The team, which will receive a total of $2 million in funding from both SU2C and the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, will focus on epigenetics; a phase 1 trial will help identify epigenetic changes that are common to patients who don’t respond to immunotherapy, compared to those who do.
The team will also explore the use of CAR T cells to target mesothelin, a protein that is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer, according to the press release.
The Food and Drug Administration’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee recently gave a thumbs up to a version of CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of advanced acute lymphoblastic leukemia.This new SU2C translational research team will meet twice a year with the three other SU2C-sponsored research teams addressing pancreatic cancer to share progress and data.
