Research grant funds investigations into novel immuno-cellular therapy strategies
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Frederick L. Locke, MD, has been awarded a clinical research grant by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center.
Locke serves as co-leader of the immune-oncology program and vice chair of the department of blood and marrow transplant and cellular immunotherapy at Moffitt. He also is a member of the Cell Therapy Next Peer Perspective Board.
Locke said the award is for mid-career scholars focused on clinical investigation and provides salary support that helps makes his team’s clinical research possible.
“This is an important award,” he told Healio. “This award will allow both me and many of the colleagues in my lab the time to do new clinical investigations.”
A portion of the grant will support activities of Moffitt’s Immune Cell Therapy (ICE-T) initiative, an integrated, cross-departmental translational team that aims to develop new cancer therapeutics and conduct clinical trials at the center.
“I have a number of projects ongoing that are funded through separate mechanisms,” Locke said. “However, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society recognizes the importance of this work and provides this important funding to help protect my time dedicated to clinical research.”
This is imperative, Locke said, because his roles at Moffitt involve administrative tasks and clinical care on top of his duties with the ICE-T program.
The grant will fund ongoing research examining combinational strategies with vaccination and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, Locke said. Moffitt plans two clinical trials that will first verify a patient’s ability to respond to a targeted cancer vaccine either before or after CAR T-cell administration. One strategy will use a pneumococcal vaccine, whereas the other will target a cancer cell signaling protein called survivin to determine whether the combinational strategy can improve outcomes after CAR T-cell therapy.
Moffitt researchers also plan to study the use of COVID-19 vaccines in combination with CAR T-cell therapy and test whether the sequence of vaccine administration has any effect on patient outcomes.
The grant also will allow Locke’s group to continue working on a clinical trial of radiation bridging therapy before CAR T cells.
“One way we think we can improve the outcomes of these patients is to reduce the amount of tumor burden by irradiating the patient prior to CAR T-cell therapy in areas of bulky disease,” Locke told Healio.
Previous research at Moffitt established the feasibility of such an approach for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Locke said.
“If our hypothesis is correct — that reducing the amount of live tumor present can improve outcomes — we may find that providing radiation therapy prior to CAR T-cell therapy improves outcomes and, thereby, the overall efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy.”
References:
- Sim AJ, et al. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2019;doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2019.05.065.
- The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Collaboration driving progress: LLS forms alliances with leading cancer institutions and foundations to co-fund nearly $17 million in new research grants. Available at: www.lls.org/news/collaboration-driving-progress-lls-forms-alliances-with-leading-cancer-institutions-and-foundations-to-co-fund-nearly-17-million-in-new-research. Accessed April 26, 2021.
Collapse
Healio Interview
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts