WEHI PhD Completion Seminar hosted by Associate Professor Misty Jenkins

Hannah Hughes-Parry

PhD Student - Jenkins Laboratory, Immunology division – Infection, Inflammation & Immunity Theme, WEHI

Characterisation of Dual-Specific CAR T cells against Heterogeneous Tumours

Davis Auditorium

Join via TEAMS LIVE

Including Q&A session

Followed by refreshments in Tapestry Lounge

Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy involves the adoptive transfer of patient-derived T cells engineered to express a synthetic receptor capable of directly targeting a tumour antigen of interest. It has demonstrated remarkable clinical success in haematological cancers. However, the heterogeneity of solid tumours and subsequent antigen escape are significant obstacles to the response and long-term remission of patient malignancies following CAR T cell immunotherapy in the clinic.

Therefore, to improve solid tumour elimination and prevent relapse, CAR T cell immunotherapy may be improved by the targeting of multiple tumour-associated antigens through dual-specific CAR T cells, in which T cells are engineered to express CARs against multiple antigens.

I generated dual-targeting CAR T cells specific for the HER2 and EGFRvIII tumour antigens, prevalent in various malignancies including brain cancers, and assessed their function against different heterogeneous tumour targets in vitro. To further explore the utility of multitargeting tumour antigens in vivo, we used CRISPR technology to generate an immunocompetent mouse model tolerant to my human antigens of interest and examined the efficacy of dual-targeted CAR T cells in an intracranial model.

All welcome!