Establishing the Role of Dynamic CAR-T: Cancer Cell Interactions in Treatment Resistance

Cellular Immunotherapy approaches, particularly Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy has revolutionized how we treat different forms of white blood cell cancers such as B cell leukemias. While this new therapy can be highly effective, different forms of cancers will recur in a significant percentage of patients. To understand mechanisms of treatment failure and cancer relapse, I set out to investigate the dynamic interactions between CAR-T cells and B cell malignancies. These dynamic interactions potentially underlie immune evasion mechanisms that recurring cancer cells utilize. Using different microscopy methods as well as cell, molecular and biochemical approaches I am gaining insight into how cancer cells evade CAR-T therapy. My results will be a driver of new cellular immunotherapy approaches as well as understanding cancer cell immune evasion mechanisms.