Advances in the field of science known as immuno-oncology have already revolutionized the treatment of cancer. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is a key approach in this field and has given great results in treatment of leukemias, but more research is still needed for unleashing its potential against solid cancers. One important challenge is that low levels of the targeted cancer cell surface determinants are usually found also in normal cells, leading the CAR-T cells to attack also healthy tissues with potentially devastating side-effects. In the proposed research project we plan to address this challenge by developing CAR-T cells that recognize the target cell to be destroyed based on combinations of cancer-associated determinants that are not found on any normal cells. This work is enabled by a new and easily editable cell targeting technology recently developed in our laboratory and is based on strong prelimary data supporting the feasibility of these plans.

2024

2028