Discovering the Next Generation of Immunotherapy

At Roswell Park, we are on the forefront of immunotherapy research. Through our research, we are able to offer you treatment options not found at every cancer center.

We study each patient’s immune system to discover new ways for it to fight cancer. We create clinical trials that target specific cells and spare healthy cells, to offer you treatments with fewer side effects than standard cancer treatments.

Innovative ovarian cancer research

Roswell Park's Division of Translational Immuno-Oncology is on the cutting-edge of research for ovarian cancer. In 2015, they received a 12 million dollar grant funded by the New York State Stem Cell Science Program (NYSTEM) to accelerate therapeutic applications of stem cells to develop a new therapy for recurrent chemo-resistant ovarian cancer.

Using adoptive T cell therapy to harness the immune system, Roswell Park's Division of Translational Immuno-Oncology team reengineers adult stem cells from patients’ blood and infuses these reprogrammed cells back into the patients. By reengineering the cells, they become cancer-fighting cells.

Once inside a patient’s body, the reengineered stem cells become mature blood cells, providing a continuous, potentially lifelong source of cancer-fighting immune cells for a sustained response. The team has successfully reengineered human blood-derived stem cells such that when they mature in the body of mice, they become anti-tumor immune cells, with the ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. In this clinical trial, reengineered mature immune cells are also utilized to provide the first attack on the cancer cells, followed by help from the transgenic stem- cell-derived progeny immune cells for a sustained, long-lasting anti-cancer response.

Collaborative ovarian cancer research study

The Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center Ovarian Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) brings together investigators to perform innovative clinical trials for treatment of patients with primary and recurrent ovarian cancer, and prevention of relapse in patients in remission. Four projects have been carefully designed using immune-based approaches that have the potential to change how ovarian cancer is treated within five years.

SPORE includes:

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