Goals: Accelerate development of potential clinical trial
Principal Investigator: Mark Yarchoan, MD
Grant length: Six months
Study overview: This grant to Dr. Yarchoan is meant to support the development of a protocol for a potential clinical trial. In 2020, the Johns Hopkins team began a phase I clinical trial of an experimental vaccine containing a peptide (small segment of a protein) that corresponds to the junction region between the two parts of FLC’s characteristic chimeric protein. Patients enrolled in that trial also simultaneously received two FDA-approved checkpoint inhibitors – Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab).
This new effort is focused on designing an appropriate follow-up clinical study as soon as possible, to build on the learnings of the peptide vaccine effort and better understand factors that can limit the immune system’s ability to fight FLC.