Cancer Research Institute (CRI) fellowship partnership

Goal: Develop and fund three-year FLC research fellowships FCF has partnered with the prestigious Cancer Research Institute (CRI) to specifically focus on the role immunotherapy may have in creating curative therapies for fibrolamellar. CRI has been promoting immunotherapy research for 65 years, long before the establishment cancer treatment and research community recognized immunotherapy as a …

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Multicenter consortium to define the single-cell activity landscape of fibrolamellar carcinoma.

Timeframe: 2022 – 2024 Goal: Advance immunotherapy for FLC, by defining the most promising immunological targets that can be translated into effective cell-based immunotherapies Principal Investigators: Praveen Sethupathy, PhD, Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University; Mark Yarchoan, MD, Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University; Paul G. Thomas, PhD, Immunology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital …

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Defining the potential of DNAJB1-PRKACA fusion-specific T cells across human populations

Timeframe: 2022 – 2024 Goal: Advance immunotherapy for FLC, by defining the most promising immunological targets that can be translated into effective cell-based immunotherapies Principal Investigator: Paul G. Thomas, PhD, Immunology, St. Jude Faculty New immunotherapeutic approaches have produced spectacular outcomes for a small subset of tumors, including certain melanomas, lung cancers, and leukemias, but these …

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Pre-clinical studies of the interactions of the immune system with FL-HCC

Timeframe: 2016 – 2019 Goal: Study the interactions between the immune system and FLC in a mouse model Principal Investigator: Kevin Barry, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar Cancer immunotherapies harness the power of the immune system to kill tumors. Checkpoint blockade immunotherapies are an exciting class of cancer immunotherapies that remove the brakes from the immune system …

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Investigating immune checkpoint biomarkers in tissue and peripheral blood of patients with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma

Timeframe: 2016 – 2019 Goal: Define the dominant immune checkpoint pathway in FLC Principal investigator: Amy K. Kim, M.D., Assistant Professor Tumor cells produce immune checkpoint molecules that suppress host immune response and allow evasion from immune responses. The discovery of drugs that block these immune checkpoints have revolutionized current cancer treatment. Anti-PD1 (programmed cell …

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T cell immunotherapy in fibrolamellar cancer

Timeframe: 2016 – 2019 Goal: Characterize T-cells in the FLC tumor microenvironment Principal Investigator: Kevin M. Sullivan, M.D., General Surgery Immunotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that harnesses the patient’s own immune system to fight the disease. The immune system can precisely target cancer cells, while also minimizing damage to the remainder of the …

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Modulating stromal-immune cell interactions to activate anti-tumor immunity to fibrolamellar carcinoma

Timeframe: 2019 -2020 Goal: Assess whether supressing checkpoints or signaling by a specific chemokine (CXCL12) can enhance immune response Principal Investigator: Venu Pillarisetty, MD, Associate Professor, Division of General Surgery [Extension after CRI Fellowship grant to Kevin Sullivan in Dr. Pillarisetty’s lab, 2016-2019] Immunotherapy, harnessing the patient’s immune system to precisely target cancer cells, has …

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Developing the foundation for an immunotherapy program to treat fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma

Timeframe: 2020 – 2021 Goal: Understand the characteristics of the immune cells within FLC, and use this knowledge to optimize immunotherapy for this disease Principal Investigator: Venu Pillarisetty, MD, Professor of Surgery, General Surgery, University of Washington School of Medicine Despite the application of many advanced treatments, such as surgery and chemotherapy, most patients with …

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