Disease Focus: Solid Tumors


Allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells loaded with oncolytic virus for cancer treatment

Therapeutic Candidate or Device Supernova-1 (SNV1): Allogeneic adipose-derived culture expanded mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSC) loaded with oncolytic vaccinia virus Indication -Metastatic melanoma -Triple negative breast cancer -Advanced Head & Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Therapeutic Mechanism SNV1 will induce direct killing of cancer cells and will modify the tumor microenvironment, converting immunologically "cold" umors into "hot" […]

Late-Stage Preclinical Study of CAR-T Memory Stem Cells Targeting PSMA (P-PSMA-101) for the Treatment of Castrate-Resistant Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Therapeutic Candidate or Device Genetically engineered, Centyrin-based, CAR- or CARTyrin-T memory stem cells Indication Castrate-resistant metastatic prostate cancer Therapeutic Mechanism The Centyrin-based chimeric antigen receptor (CARTyrin) cells are cells that are removed from a patient's body and genetically engineered to express a receptor that binds to PSMA that is selectively found on prostate cancer cells, […]

Ex Vivo Gene Engineering of Blood Stem Cells for Enhanced Chemotherapy Efficacy in Glioblastoma Patients

Therapeutic Candidate or Device Blood stem cells will be genetically engineered to protect them from chemotherapy in glioblastoma patients, producing better patient survival. Indication Patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) multiforme, or any grade IV newly diagnosed glioma, will be eligible to receive this therapy. Therapeutic Mechanism Chemotherapy is the first-line treatment for GBM, but […]

IND enabling development of FT516: A Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy for Cancer Derived from a Human Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cell

Therapeutic Candidate or Device FT516: A Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy for Cancer Derived from a Human Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cell Line Indication FT516 monotherapy for patients with advanced cancer and in combination with approved ADCC-competent monoclonal antibodies Therapeutic Mechanism FT516 drug product is comprised of natural killer (NK) cells derived from a clonal human induced […]

Genetically-modified neural stem cells for treatment of high-grade glioma

Our proposal details assembly of a multidisciplinary Disease Team whose goal will be to take into the clinic a novel and promising stem cell-based strategy for selectively targeting invasive tumor cells in high-grade glioma. These tumor cells form small foci scattered throughout the brain that are resistant to standard treatments and are the tumor in […]

CD61-driven stemness program in epithelial cancer

Tumors contain a heterogeneous mix of cancer cells with distinct features, including subsets of particularly aggressive stem-like cells. Since a single cancer stem cell can self-renew, divide, and differentiate to reconstitute the heterogeneity of an entire tumor, the ability of one cell to evade therapy or surgical resection could lead to tumor re-growth and disease […]

A Phase I dose escalation and expansion clinical trial of the novel first-in-class Polo-like Kinase 4 (PLK4) inhibitor, CFI-400945 in patients with advanced solid tumors

Cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Many believe that progress in drug development has not been as rapid as one would have predicted based on the significant technological advancements that have led to improved molecular understanding of this disease. There are numerous explanations for the lag in clinical success with new […]

Clinical Investigation of a Humanized Anti-CD47 Antibody in Targeting Cancer Stem Cells in Hematologic Malignancies and Solid Tumors

Most normal tissues are maintained by a small number of stem cells that can both self-renew to maintain stem cell numbers, and also give rise to progenitors that make mature cells. We have shown that normal stem cells can accumulate mutations that cause progenitors to self-renew out of control, forming cancer stem cells (CSC). CSC […]

Clinical Development of an N-cadherin Antibody to Target Cancer Stem Cells

Metastatic disease and the castration resistance remain tremendous challenges in the treatment of prostate cancer. New targeted treatments, such as the ant-testosterone medication enzalutamide, have improved the survival of men with advanced disease, but a majority develops treatment resistance. The field of cancer stem cells hypothesizes that treatment resistance emerges because stem cells are inherently […]

White matter neuroregeneration after chemotherapy: stem cell therapy for “chemobrain”

Chemotherapy for cancer is often life saving, but it also causes a debilitating syndrome of impaired cognition characterized by deficits in attention, concentration, information processing speed, multitasking and memory. As a result, many cancer survivors find themselves unable to return to work or function in their lives as they had before their cancer therapy. These […]