Funded by the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund
Pediatric cancer patients have greatly benefited from CAR-T cell therapy, which is a treatment that uses a child’s own T cells – a type of immune cell – to find and kill cancer. This approach has helped many children with blood cancers, but fewer than half stay cancer-free after one year. One reason for this is that sometimes CAR-T cells don’t survive long enough in the body to stop the cancer from returning. To fix this issue, we are trying to develop ways to make CAR-T cells act more like marathon runners that stay in the fight instead of sprinters that slow down too soon.My research focuses on the bone marrow, which is the part of the body where some blood cancers hide and where CAR-T cells go to fight them. We’ve found that the bone marrow sends out special signals that affect how well CAR-T cells survive. In this project, we will study those signals and use what we learn to create longer-lasting CAR-T cells. This work could ultimately make CAR-T therapies work better for kids and adults and inform other approaches to help these powerful immune cells stay active longer.
