2019 Terry Laughlin & Regina Aldisert – PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award
Priming the metastatic prostate tumor microenvironment with TLR activation and IL2 to respond to checkpoint blockade
Mehmet Bilen, MD
Emory University
Mentors: Haydn Kissick, Martin Sanda, Omer Kucuk
Description:
- The immune system has the potential to recognize and kill cancer cells, and immunotherapy seeks to elicit effective anti-tumor immune responses. However, immunotherapy has thus far had limited efficacy in patients with prostate cancer.
- Mehmet Bilen and team have discovered a population of T cells that when present in tumors, limits tumor growth and is responsible for the effectiveness of immunotherapy. However, these T cells, as well as the “antigen presenting” immune cell populations that are necessary to support them, are very rare in prostate cancer.
- In this project, Dr. Bilen will conduct a clinical trial in patients with advanced prostate cancer, testing the efficacy and safety of a novel triple-immunotherapy combination designed to activate both T cells and antigen presenting cells.
- This project will also determine the impact of this treatment on immune cell numbers and activities in primary and metastatic tumor samples from patients.
- If successful, this project will determine the efficacy, safety, and biological effects of a new immunotherapy treatment regimen in patients with advanced prostate cancer.
What this means to patients: Dr. Bilen will conduct a clinical trial testing a novel triple immunotherapy regimen designed to turn on critical immune cell activities that are missing in prostate cancer patients, and will determine the clinical and biological impact of this treatment.