It is with the utmost excitement to be able to announce that with great dedication comes great reward!
With our continued work to advocate and raise funds for LLS we are finally able to name a research grant in honor of my late father-in-law which will specifically target immunotherapy research.
After careful consideration and understanding the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation we chose Dr. Carl June for his advancement in the immunotherapy realm of research. We are of the belief that immunotherapy treatments are less invasive and will be the future of successful treatments for blood cancer and other cancers.
We are looking forward to the journey of what may resolve from this research grant and are so joyful to be a small part of his work!
For those of you who are interested in the phase of research we have chosen, here's a little information on Dr. Carl June out of the University of Pennsylvania!
Love,
Jessica Cassidy
Mrs. Michigan International 2015
CARL JUNE, MD
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
The goal of this collaborative research team is to develop
chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T cells to treat leukemia and
lymphoma. The investigation consists of four synergistic projects.
Dr.
June and his LLS-funded team have made
significant advances, including immunotherapies that employ a patients' own
normal T cells genetically modified to
display a CAR molecule that targets CD19, a protein found on many lymphoid
cancers. CD19 CAR-T cells have achieved remissions for adults with chronic
lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and children with acute
lymphoid leukemia (ALL) who had not achieved stable remissions with
multiple standard therapies.
The
team is now working to discover antigens that can be recognized in
CD19-negative ALLs and other blood cancers, including lymphomas and acute
myeloid leukemia's. In addition, they are further improving CAR engineering and
delivery technologies, testing new CAR-T cells in appropriate animal models,
and beginning clinical testing of new strategies including ones that use
engineered T cells from donors.
