Novel Immunotherapy for Cancer Treatment: Chimeric Antigen Receptors Targeting CD70 Antigen

Scientists at the NCI's Surgery Branch have developed anti-CD70 chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to treat cancers. CD70 is an antigen that is expressed on a variety of human cancers such as renal cell carcinoma, glioblastoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The anti-CD70 CARs are hybrid proteins consisting of a receptor portion that recognizes CD70 antigen, and intracellular T cell signaling domains selected to optimally activate the CAR expressing T cells.

Cancer Therapeutic based on Stimulation of Natural Killer T-cell Anti-tumor Activity

Natural killer T cells (NKT) are a unique lymphocyte population that has T-cell and NK cell functional properties in order to rapidly elicit an immune response.  alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer) is a potent NKT stimulator and induces of IFN-gamma release to promote immunity against tumors and infectious agents.  Humans have natural antibodies against alpha-galactose, which may be one of the reasons why the human clinical trials of alpha-GalCer or KRN7000 were not very successful.

Improved Production of Prenylated Protein in Insect Cells

KRAS and other Ras-family enzymes are an important component of over 30% of human cancers, however, no effective therapeutics targeting Ras or Ras-driven cancers are currently available.  The production of Ras proteins in vitro is required for the identification and characterization of Ras targeting drugs.  An important step in producing the Ras protein involves prenylation of the C-terminus of the protein via farnesyltransferase, a modification that does not occur in prokaryotic organisms.  Previous attempts to generate properly processed Ras in eukaryotic cells has

Cancer Vaccines against POTE for Treating Solid Tumors

POTE is a novel tumor antigen expressed in a variety of cancers including breast, prostate, colon, lung, ovary, and pancreas cancers.  POTE has limited expression in normal tissues and therefore a specific target for cancer treatments, including immunotherapy.  The researchers seek statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize immunogenic peptides. 

Target for Anti-Tumor Immune Responses

The Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to carry out genotypic as well as phenotypic analysis of the 888 mel cell line in order to better understand the nature of tumor cells that respond to therapy. In addition, this cell line can be used as a target of humoral or cell mediated immune responses as a part of studies characterizing the nature of immune responses directed against tumor cells.