As immunotherapy becomes a cornerstone of cancer treatment, some of the top U.S. cancer centers and health systems are accelerating research efforts to identify the biological mechanisms behind immunotherapy response and resistance.
Here are three recent immunotherapy research initiatives:
- New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System has launched a research partnership to uncover how and why the immune system responds — or doesn’t respond — to certain immunotherapies.
Mount Sinai’s OCCAM Immune program will collaborate with the Cancer Research Institute, also based in New York City, on a clinical trial for women with platinum-resistant high-grade serous ovarian cancer, according to a June 17 news release from the health system.
By analyzing blood and tumor samples with RNA/DNA sequencing and immune cell mapping, researchers aim to identify specific markers that could match patients to the most effective immunotherapies in the future. - Duarte, Calif.-based City of Hope has been awarded a contract of up to $23.7 million to study how advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer tumors change during immunotherapy treatment.
The award will fund a six-year clinical trial across the system’s more than 35 clinical sites. Researchers anticipate the first of more than 500 patients within 12 months, according to a June 17 news release from City of Hope.
The trial aims to create a “bio map of tumor changes” associated with immunotherapy resistance while also adjusting treatment as resistance arises. The trial will also test new biomarker-guided therapies in non-small cell lung cancer patients in “near real time,” the release said.
“Developing a bio map that detects mutations and other alterations early and predicts a patient’s cancer trajectory will enable us to match treatments to evolving tumor biology and improve our patients long-term survival,” Ravi Salgia, MD, PhD, chair of the department of medical oncology and therapeutics research at City of Hope, said in the release.
The funding comes from HHS’ Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health and is part of the agency’s Advanced Analysis for Precision Cancer Therapy program. - New York City-based Weill Cornell established a cancer research collaborative to explore ways to improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy through nutrition, metabolism and emerging therapeutics.
The Weill Cancer Hub East connects leaders from Weill Cornell Medicine, Princeton (N.J.) University, New York City-based Rockefeller University and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, also in New York City.
An initial $50 million gift from the Weill Family Foundation to establish the research hub will be matched by the philanthropic efforts of each partner institution, totaling more than $125 million.
