University of California, Los Angeles
$100,000 Irving Feintech Family Foundation Career Development Research Grant
Research Title:
Molecular and immunologic correlates of responses to anti-CD 19 chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy
CD 19 is a protein on the surface of B cells and serves as a potential target in advanced non-Hodgkin lymphomas and leukemias. One experimental treatment has been anti-CD 19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, which uses the patient’s T cells to engineer an anti-CD 19 portion to specifically recognize and kill CD 19-expressing cells.
A clinical trial using anti-CD 19 CAR T cells will be implemented at UCLA in the summer of 2014. We plan to: 1) initiate a phase I clinical trial using transfer of engineered T cells, and 2) perform laboratory studies to improve upon and understand the mechanisms of this treatment.
Mentor: John M. Timmerman