Dr. Shannon Oda, a principal investigator in the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington, has received a $250,000 phase 2 technology commercialization grant from Washington Research Foundation (WRF) to engineer T cells with dual costimulatory receptors (DCRs) to improve cancer treatment outcomes. Oda received $50,000 from WRF in 2021 for early proof-of-concept work on this innovative strategy that could have a significant impact in improving adoptive cell therapies (ACTs) for solid tumors. ACTs utilizing engineered T cells have already proven effective in treating some blood cancers. However, they are much less effective against solid tumors, which make up around 90% of the nearly two million annual cancer diagnoses in the United States. There are several reasons for this. Solid tumors contain few “markers” that can be identified by immune cells that can effectively kill the tumor, making it difficult to target the tumor precisely. Additionally, the tumor creates a protective environment around it that suppresses these immune cells. To remedy this, Oda is engineering DCRs into T cells, which can simultaneously stimulate signaling in the T cells, as well as engage other immune cells to diversify the antitumor response and target multiple markers.
