Publications by authors named "Sweta Desai"
Article Synopsis
- Personalized cancer vaccines targeting neoantigens show promise for treating follicular lymphoma (FL) by using advanced sequencing technologies to identify unique tumor mutations.
- In a study involving 58 tumor samples from 57 FL patients, researchers predicted and filtered high-quality neoantigens, finding an average of 52 mutations per patient with multiple high-quality neoantigens identified.
- A pilot clinical trial using these personalized neoantigen vaccines combined with PD-1 blockade has been initiated, showing early signs of feasibility, safety, and potential therapeutic benefits for patients with relapsed or refractory FL.
Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphoid cells that eliminate cancer cells, produce cytokines, and are being investigated as a nascent cellular immunotherapy. Impaired NK cell function, expansion, and persistence remain key challenges for optimal clinical translation. One promising strategy to overcome these challenges is cytokine-induced memory-like (ML) differentiation, whereby NK cells acquire enhanced antitumor function after stimulation with interleukin-12 (IL-12), IL-15, and IL-18.
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- Pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after stem cell transplant usually have a very poor outlook, and current treatments like standard chemotherapy and donor lymphocyte infusions are not very effective.
- A phase 1 trial treated 9 patients with memory-like natural killer (ML NK) cells that were generated from their original stem cell donors, showing promising results with 4 out of 8 evaluable patients achieving complete remission after two weeks.
- The study found that these ML NK cells can expand and persist in the body with strong anti-leukemia responses, indicating they could be an effective new immunotherapy option for relapsed AML without significant toxicity.
Natural killer (NK) cells are a promising alternative to T cells for cancer immunotherapy. Adoptive therapies with allogeneic, cytokine-activated NK cells are being investigated in clinical trials. However, the optimal cytokine support after adoptive transfer to promote NK cell expansion, and persistence remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNew therapies are needed for patients with relapsed/refractory (rel/ref) diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who do not benefit from or are ineligible for stem cell transplant and chimeric antigen receptor therapy. The CD30-targeted, antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin (BV) and the immunomodulator lenalidomide (Len) have demonstrated promising activity as single agents in this population. We report the results of a phase 1/dose expansion trial evaluating the combination of BV/Len in rel/ref DLBCL.
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- Natural killer (NK) cells show promise as a cancer treatment but face issues such as persistence and tumor recognition; priming them with specific interleukins (rhIL-12, rhIL-15, rhIL-18) enhances their effectiveness.
- A new platform using inert tissue factor scaffolds was created to produce heteromeric fusion protein complexes, enabling scalable production of these interleukins (HCW9201) and additional CD16 engagement (HCW9207).
- Studies show that HCW9201 improves NK cell function and memory-like characteristics, making it a potential solution for producing effective NK cells in a clinical setting for cancer therapies.
Purpose: Natural killer (NK)-cell recognition and function against NK-resistant cancers remain substantial barriers to the broad application of NK-cell immunotherapy. Potential solutions include bispecific engagers that target NK-cell activity via an NK-activating receptor when simultaneously targeting a tumor-specific antigen, as well as enhancing functionality using IL12/15/18 cytokine pre-activation.
Experimental Design: We assessed single-cell NK-cell responses stimulated by the tetravalent bispecific antibody AFM13 that binds CD30 on leukemia/lymphoma targets and CD16A on various types of NK cells using mass cytometry and cytotoxicity assays.
Natural killer (NK) cells are an emerging cancer cellular therapy and potent mediators of antitumor immunity. Cytokine-induced memory-like (ML) NK cellular therapy is safe and induces remissions in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, the dynamic changes in phenotype that occur after NK-cell transfer that affect patient outcomes remain unclear.
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