Development of novel cell and gene therapies

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The Center for Cellular Engineering (CCE) is working to develop and improve cancer cellular therapies including Dendritic Cell (DC) therapies, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies and T cell engineered to express T cell receptors (TCRs) specific to tumor antigens. The laboratory is working to improve the methods used to produce Bone Marrow Stromal Cells (BMSCs) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for regenerative medicine applications. Dendritic cells are an important adjuvant for cancer vaccines. The CCE is currently producing DCs expressing HER2/neu to treat cancer patients whose tumors express this antigen. The lab has discovered that factors in the plasma from some people can inhibit the expression of HER2/neu by DCs. The CCE New Production Management (NPM) laboratory has developed and is manufacturing several CAR T cell therapies. CD22-CAR T cells and CD19/CD22-bispecific T cells are being manufactured in order to treat pediatric patients with B cell leukemia. Manufacturing of CD30-CAR T cells has recently been initiated. These CAR T cells are being used to treat adults with lymphomas. The laboratory has also developed anti-B Cell Maturation Antigen (BCMA) CAR T cells and anti-SLAMF7-CAR T cells to treat patients with multiple myeloma. The laboratory has developed procedures to manufacture CD19/CD22- CAR T cells using a completely automated instrument. Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with a number of cancers. The NPM laboratory has developed a method to produce T cells that express a T cell receptor (TCR) that is specific for the HPV-16 oncoprotein E7. These cells will be used to treat patients with HPV-associated cervical and oropharyngeal cancers. The Cell Processing Laboratory is collaborating with investigators in the National Eye Institute to develop methods to manufacture iPS cells from CD34+ cells isolated from the blood and to differentiate the iPS cells in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. The RPE cells will be used to treat patients with age related macular degeneration.