The past few decades have seen the successful development of several immunotherapy based approaches for cancer treatment and several more are in the pipeline. Immunotherapy has become a reality based on multiple discoveries and better understanding of the relationship between tumorigenesis and the immune system. Immune suppression and/or development of mechanisms to evade immune surveillance are now considered as key hallmarks for tumorigenesis in many cancers.
More recently, targeted therapies such as monoclonal antibody based checkpoint inhibitors and T cell based therapy such as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)-T cells have taken center stage.
Antibody based checkpoint inhibitor therapies act by removal of tumor induced T-cell suppression thereby resulting in T cell activation, expansion and clearing of tumor cells. Notably, monoclonal antibodies targeting PD1 and CTLA-4 have been approved by US FDA for treatment of multiple cancers.
On the other hand, in CAR-T cell therapy normal T cells isolated from the patient are genetically engineered ex vivo and reintroduced to target specifically tumor cells. The field of CAR-T cell therapy continues to evolve and holds much promise for cancer treatment.
Overall, the above therapies have demonstrated better response rate in multiple cancers and resulted in better remission rates. Additionally efforts are now on to also explore combination treatments. While several challenges do exist and need to be overcome, the future holds promise.
In this webinar, the speakers will provide overviews of the recent advancements in the field of cancer immunotherapy and novel CAR-T cell development. They will also focus on how specific technologies have been leveraged to make immunotherapy a reality.
Speakers: Dr. Maloy Ghosh, CSO, Zumutor Biologics & Dr. Michael D’silva, Senior Principal Investigator, BBRC