4.21
Immunotherapy
Cancer cell therapy pioneer Carl June receives the Sanford Lorraine Cross Award
The Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center received the award for his work in developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy.
Immune response in some children may influence COVID treatments for adults
A joint study from researchers at Penn and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia shows that T cell activation in children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome is more similar to adults with severe COVID-19.
Microbial transplants require key T cells for success
Findings that certain immune cells are needed for fecal microbiota transplant success against C. difficile infections may be a clue to making this promising treatment work more broadly.
Five years later: CAR T therapy shows long-lasting remissions in non-Hodgkin lymphomas
Findings represent the longest follow-up data to date for a personalized cellular therapy approved by the FDA for the treatment of aggressive lymphomas.
Charting a path forward with unifying definition of cytokine storm
Penn Medicine researchers have developed a unifying definition of “cytokine storm” to provide a framework to assess and treat patients whose immune systems have gone rogue.
Novel Dual CAR T cell immunotherapy promising for targeting the HIV reservoir
A new alteration to the way T cells are engineered has significant implications for using engineered T cells to fight both HIV and cancer.
A potential cause of CAR T side effects, and a path forward
Single cell sequencing aided researchers in identifying a previously undiscovered molecule in the brain.
Avery Posey’s cancer research takes high risks for big rewards
The assistant professor of systems pharmacology and translational therapeutics, who studied with Carl June as a postdoctoral fellow, combines his two research passions—gene therapy and investigating ‘little known’ biology—in the pursuit of new knowledge.
Navigating cytokine storms
Pairing their expertise, Nilam Mangalmurti of the Perelman School of Medicine and Christopher Hunter of the School of Veterinary Medicine have been working to understand the protective and harmful aspects of the immune response, including in COVID-19.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Carl June elected to National Academy of Sciences
The researchers, from the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Perelman School of Medicine, join a class of honored scholars recognized for their unique and ongoing contributions to original research.
In the News
Penn immunotherapy pioneer Carl June shares prize from Israeli foundation that also honors Fauci
Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine was awarded a Dan David prize for his contributions to immunotherapy.
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A woman may have been cured of HIV without medical treatment
Una O’Doherty of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on a study that appeared to fully suppress HIV without using drugs. “It’s certainly encouraging but speculative,” she said. “I need to see more before I would say, ‘Oh, she’s cured.’”
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Decades-old Soviet studies hint at coronavirus strategy
Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine said the benefits of a repurposed vaccines are limited. “We are much better off with a vaccine that induces specific immunity,” he said.
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