Cancer Immunotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics - T32

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ABSTRACT A significant advance in cancer, still a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the US, has been the discovery of immune-directed therapy. This is a rapidly changing field that will require future clinician researchers to draw upon a skillset that is quite distinct from current investigation and practice, as host factors take a dominant role over traditional, anatomical-driven parameters. The goal of this proposed T32 program is to train future oncology clinical providers and researchers in the most advanced and promising forms of immune-directed and cell therapy, by integrating those newly required skills into a training plan that addresses those unique needs. New challenges include a multitude of new agents under development, new mechanisms of action, a distinct toxicity profile mostly consisting of immune/autoimmune side effects, and the lack of patient selection or predictive markers for these therapies. The opportunity is to invent Developmental Therapeutics (DT) strategies that maximally exploit the power of immune-based therapy. Our vision for this proposed T32 is to create a training program and environment that will provide essential skills to clinical trainees while simultaneously providing them with the opportunity to contribute to developing the next generation of cancer therapies. To implement this program, we will draw upon the scientific and translational strengths of the University of Colorado School of Medicine (UCSOM). Indeed, the UCSOM has a strong history of basic immune research (discovery of IL-1 and STING), as well as allergy and autoimmunity research with world- class asthma (National Jewish), and diabetes (Barbara Davis) centers. The UCSOM has provided $20M to launch the Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Initiative (HI3), and has supported the creation of in-house facilities to produce clinical-grade cell therapy products, enabling cutting edge therapies like CAR T-cells. To bridge the bench-to-bedside gap, substantial efforts have been devoted to create advanced, humanized mouse models. Additionally, the UCSOM is a leader in oncology clinical translation with a prestigious DT program, and it was this focus in early DT that allowed us to become leaders in immune and cell therapy. The UCSOM has created a Personalized Medicine Center, designed to facilitate scientific/clinical programs seeking to develop patient-specific therapies. Finally, to link all of the scientific potential in these resources to the delivery of patient care, the medical center has invested over $50M to enhance informatics capabilities enabling data mining and research initiatives towards optimizing clinical decision-making and new therapy development. The sum of the resources outlined above provide the foundation for creating a unique training program, focused on preparing clinical investigators and physician scientists to discover the next generation of immunotherapies. This program will be uniquely tailored to adapt to the specific training requirements of clinical fellows, to guarantee top level research training while maintaining the quality of their core clinical experience. The program will be designated as the Cancer Immunotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics Program (CIETP).