Todd Fehniger, MD, PhD

Cancer immunotherapy is a medicine that helps the body’s immune system fight cancer. One type, called “CAR T cells,” changes immune cells so they can see and attack cancer better. This has been a big help for people with serious lymphoma, but it can cause strong side effects like bad flu symptoms, brain problems, and low blood counts.This project is trying a new kind of immunotherapy that uses different immune cells called “natural killer cells.” We found a way to make these cells remember how to fight cancer better. These “memory natural killer cells” have helped leukemia patients without causing strong side effects. But there are still problems, like having a hard time seeing all types of cancer (including lymphoma) and being stopped by a “brake” on their surface. Natural killer cells also need a special growth signal called interleukin 15 to stay alive and fight cancer well.This project will fix these problems by adding tiny “mini” proteins to the memory natural killer cells. These changes will help them attack tough lymphoma, remove the “brake,” and make their own growth signal. We hope this will create a new treatment for difficult lymphoma and help us find more ways to make natural killer cells better in the future.