Immune determinants of CAR-T cell expansion in solid tumor patients receiving GD2 CAR-T cell therapy

Sabina Kaczanowska’s research focus is to understand the role of the immune system in shaping the microenvironment of metastasis during cancer progression. Specifically, she is investigating how myeloid cells orchestrate the immunosuppressive program in the pre-metastatic niche and how we can apply this knowledge of myeloid biology to design new immunotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of solid tumors. She joined us on OsteoBites to discuss her recently published paper on Immune determinants of CAR-T cell expansion in solid tumor patients receiving GD2 CAR-T cell therapy.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38134936/Chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-Ts) have remarkable efficacy in liquid tumors, but limited responses in solid tumors. The NCI conducted a Phase I trial (NCT02107963) of GD2 CAR-Ts (GD2-CAR.OX40.28.z.iC9), demonstrating feasibility and safety of administration in children and young adults with osteosarcoma and neuroblastoma. Patient samples were evaluated by multi-dimensional proteomic, transcriptomic, and epigenetic analyses. The data uncover mediators of CAR-T biology and correlates of expansion that could be utilized to advance immunotherapies for solid tumor patients.https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02107963Dr. Sabina Kaczanowska received her Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore for her dissertation work on T-cell immunotherapy at the UM Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. She joined the Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis Section of the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in 2017 with Dr. Rosandra Kaplan. Dr. Kaczanowska was appointed as a Staff Scientist in the Pediatric Oncology Branch in 2022 to continue her work evaluating the responses of solid tumor patients to immunotherapy and translating new immuno-oncology approaches into the clinic.