Chiara Bonini – VJRegenMed

Improving the efficiency of cancer vaccines with adoptive T cell therapy approaches

admin_vjr_user — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 15:59:58 +0000

Chiara Bonini, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University & IRCCS San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy, explains how the development and success of adoptive T cell therapies has helped evolve the landscape of personalized therapeutic cancer vaccine development. Early cancer vaccines had low efficiencies and were only able to elicit therapeutic responses in a small number of patients, however, it is now believed that combining tumor vaccination with other therapies targeting immunosuppressive pathways such as adoptive T cell therapy could significantly enhance their clinical potential. This interview took place at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) 2022.

Targeting WT1 peptides for TCR-based AML therapy

admin_vjr_user — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:27:40 +0000

Chiara Bonini, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University & IRCCS San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy, describes research into the evaluation of Wilms’ tumor antigen 1 (WT1) as a candidate peptide for T cell receptor (TCR)-based cancer immunotherapies. Dr Bonini describes the screening of healthy donors for the presence of WT1-specific T cells and it was found that T cells specific for WT1 were present in the majority of donors tested. A high-avidity WT1-specific TCR that recognizes human leukocyte antigen class II (HLA-II) peptides was then selected using a funnel approach and ongoing research aims to evaluate the clinical potential of T cells engineered to express this TCR in the treatment of AML. This interview took place at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) 2022.

TCR redirected T cells for cancer therapy

admin_vjr_user — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 12:04:16 +0000

Chiara Bonini, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University & IRCCS San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy, describes her research presented at the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE) on multiple genome editing in T cells for cancer immunotherapy. Dr Bonini describes a strategy under investigation for the potential treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which involves the knockout of two genes encoding the alpha-beta chain of the endogenous T cell receptor (TCR) in lymphocytes, followed by substitution with a tumor-specific TCR that recognizes cancer cells. Ongoing research is being performed to evaluate similar approaches in other types of cancer. This interview took place at ICLE 2022.

CAR-Tregs for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus

admin_vjr_user — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 10:38:51 +0000

Chiara Bonini, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University & IRCCS San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy, describes the rationale behind the delivery of regulatory T cells (Tregs) for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, given their ability to maintain self-tolerance and suppress the immune response. Dr Bonini also introduces ongoing research employing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology to redirect Treg activity, with the aim of restoring immune tolerance in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This interview took place at the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Virtual Congress 2021.

Genome editing to address challenges with adoptive T-cell therapy

admin_vjr_user — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 16:24:58 +0000

Chiara Bonini, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University & IRCCS San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy, describes the major hurdles associated with adoptive T-cell therapy for cancer, including challenges around determining appropriate molecular targets and type of T-cell product to use, as well as overcoming the tumor microenvironment. Dr Bonini highlights that genome editing can be used to address such challenges through the introduction or disruption of genes in the T-cell receptor (TCR) to impact specificity. In addition, tools such as CRISPR genome editing allow multiplexed strategies in which multiple genome modifications can be made in a single T-cell product, allowing modification of TCR specificity and sensitivity to the suppressive tumor microenvironment. This interview took place at the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Virtual Congress 2021.

TCR gene editing in cancer therapy

admin_vjr_user — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 16:24:56 +0000

Chiara Bonini, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University & IRCCS San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy, describes the rationale behind the use of T-cell receptor (TCR) gene editing to improve adoptive T cell therapy for cancer. While chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) T-cell therapy can be a useful approach when targeting antigens present on the cancer cell surface, TCR therapy is often employed when targeting intracellular tumor antigens. Dr Bonini explains how TCR gene editing can allow better control of the level of expression, efficacy and safety profile of TCR therapy. This interview took place at the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Virtual Congress 2021.

Developing novel TCR-based T cell products for cancer therapy

admin_vjr_user — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 16:24:54 +0000

Chiara Bonini, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University & IRCCS San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy, provides an overview of ongoing research presented at the 2021 European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Congress focusing on optimizing protocols and generating new T-cell receptor (TCR)-based T cell products. She describes a T cell hunting project that identified TCRs with high affinity to specific molecular targets such as PD-1, the development of efficient protocols to express leading TCR candidates into T cells using CRISPR TCR gene editing and the exploitation of the multiplex capacity of CRISR technology to tackle tumor immunosuppressive pathways by disrupting T cell inhibitory receptor genes. This interview took place at the ESGCT Virtual Congress 2021.