The success of T-cell therapies for solid tumors has been limited, among others, by the scarcity of tumor-specific targets. To better understand how successful T-cell responses induced by immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) eliminate metastatic tumors, we conducted a longitudinal landscape analysis of the neoepitope-specific T cells during treatment in patients with melanoma, with and without response to ICB. In this seminar, we will talk about the target of these T-cell responses and their evolution over time in the peripheral blood and the tumor, revealing how T cells target a limited number of immunodominant epitopes and making emphasis on the characteristics of these responses associated with clinical benefit to ICB.
In addition, in this seminar, we will present results for a new promising therapeutic option for patients that do not respond to ICB based on adoptive T cell therapy with T cells genetically modified to target melanoma differentiation antigens. In this approach, we propose targeting the surface expression of TYRP1 with CAR-T cell therapy to treat cutaneous and rare subtypes of melanoma.
Cristina Puig-Saus, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is also a Senior Fellow from the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) and a member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and the Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSRCR). She graduated from the University of Barcelona, and joined Dr. Antoni Ribas’ team at UCLA as a postdoctoral fellow.
During her postdoctoral training, she focused on developing new adoptive cell therapy strategies using hematopoietic stem cells. She led the preclinical effort that culminated in a clinical trial that opened at UCLA to co-administer stem cells and T cells genetically modified to express a NY-ESO TCR for the treatment of melanoma, multiple myeloma, and sarcoma.
Currently, her laboratory at UCLA focuses on the design and clinical translation of novel TCR and CAR-engineered T cell therapies for cancer treatment. To this end, Dr. Puig-Saus’ team is developing multiple receptors and other engineering strategies to generate potent T cell-based cancer therapeutics. Her team is also studying the mechanisms behind the successful T cell responses unleashed by immune checkpoint blockade in patients with response to therapy to mimic these successful T cell responses into engineered therapies.
The conference will be held in the conference room of Pavilion 11 (Antic convent), IR Sant Pau, Sant Antoni M Claret 167, Barcelona
To attend the conference please register at the following link:
