St. Baldrick’s Foundation-SU2C Pediatric Cancer Dream Team: Immunogenomics to Create New Therapies for High-Risk Childhood Cancers
Crystal L. Mackall, MD
Associate Director, Stanford Cancer Institute
Co-Medical Director, Stanford Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine
John M. Maris, MD
Director, The Center for Childhood Cancer Research
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Research
The Dream Team focuses on developing new, targeted immunotherapeutics for the most recalcitrant childhood cancers, building new antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates and CAR T cells to attack immunotherapy targets. In addition to developing new immunotherapies, they seek to elucidate basic mechanisms of effectiveness (or lack thereof) in both antibody and cellular engineering, and to develop novel methods to monitor clinical effectiveness and toxicity. The team has opened several clinical trials and has treated more than 1000 pediatric patients with cancers that have resisted treatment. For one, they have demonstrated the potency of immunotherapy against acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), as well as defined mechanisms for how these cancers cells develop resistance. They have also made progress against childhood solid cancers, with many emerging therapeutics just entering the clinic, or scheduled to enter testing over the next one to three years.
Grant News
Dream Team shares how ICOS-immunoPET can be used to monitor CAR T cells.