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About the Grupp Laboratory
Researchers in the Grupp Lab are evaluating chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy for children with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A subset of patients with ALL treated with CART19 in the initial pilot clinical study relapsed and developed CD19-negative leukemias, so investigators initiated a new pilot study to evaluate CART22 as an immunotherapy for children who relapse after CART19 treatment and develop CD19-negative leukemias. An open-label Phase IA/II clinical trial is currently underway to evaluate CART19 as treatment for children with chemotherapy-resistant or refractory CD19+leukemia and lymphoma.
Additional studies in the Grupp Lab are investigating CART cells directed against the tumor-associated disialoganglioside GD2 as a treatment for neuroblastoma and other solid tumors. Results from studies with mouse xenograft models of neuroblastoma showed that RNA-modified GD2 CART cells induced antitumor responses and were able to control disseminated neuroblastoma disease.
Other studies in the Grupp Laboratory showed that the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib and the P13K/mTOR inhibitor sirolimus inhibited cell signal transduction and substantially reduced leukemic disease burden in JAK/STAT or P13K/mTOR mouse xenograft models of ALL. A Phase I clinical trial is currently being planned to evaluate combinations of ruxolitinib or sirolimus with standard chemotherapy to treat high-risk pediatric ALL with dysregulated JAK/STAT and P13K/mTOR
Future studies in the Grupp Lab will continue to focus on refining CART immunotherapy as a treatment for high-risk pediatric leukemias and neuroblastomas and the clinical development of new targeted cancer therapies to treat children with high-risk or treatment refractory/relapsed ALL.