WEBINAR SERIES—Inflammation and Immunophysiology: An Exploration of Pathophysiology—Engineered T Cells for Cancer

June 17, 2021
11 a.m. EDT

Genetically modified T cell immunotherapy has achieved unprecedented responses in hematologic B cell malignancies. There are six different forms of engineered T cells that have been modified with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and are FDA-approved for treating cancer.

In this webinar, Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, associate professor, at Harvard Medical School and director of Cellular Immunotherapy, at MGH’s Cancer Center in Boston, will discuss the components and technologies used in making a T cell product, some of the factors that are important for efficacy and the underlying mechanisms of toxicity and resistance. She will also discuss the outlooks and recent data in development of CAR T cells and other forms of engineered T cells for solid tumors.

Key learning objectives will include:

• understanding the components of a CAR and their mechanisms of action,
• describing mechanisms of resistance that have been observed in the clinic with CAR T cells, and
• describing some of the challenges in development of engineered T cells for cancer.

Presenter

Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, is interested in using genetic engineering techniques to re-direct T cells to find and kill tumor cells while sparing healthy tissues. The Maus Lab focuses on T cell biology and T cell engineering. Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) are synthetic molecules designed to re-direct T cells to specific antigens. Re-directing T cells with CARs is an alternative method of overcoming tolerance, and has shown great promise in the clinical setting for B cell malignancies such leukemia and lymphoma. However, successful application of this form of therapy to other cancers is likely to require refinements in the molecular and clinical technologies. The goal of the Maus lab is to design and evaluate next generation genetically modified T cells as immunotherapy in patients with cancer.