ITHS GCTL: Exploring a Treatment for Advanced Ovarian Cancer
At the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS), we help accelerate medical discoveries from our laboratory, the Gene & Cell Therapy Lab (GCTL) to the clinic. We do this by partnering with researchers and companies to help them develop, manufacture and test medical products in clinical research trials. This story highlights the GCTL services and one of their partnerships through a project that is testing a promising treatment for advanced ovarian cancer.
Partnership
One such partner is Precigen, a biopharmaceutical company that has developed their UltraCAR-T Cell therapy. This therapy has the potential to treat advanced ovarian cancer; however, the product first needs to go through safety testing, which is a Phase I clinical trial; and then an efficacy testing, which is a Phase II clinical trial, both in humans. Here’s when the GCTL comes into play.
Precigen approached UW investigators Drs. John Liao and Sasha Stanton with their UltraCAR-T Cell therapy treatment approach for ovarian cancer patients. Precigen scientists working with our GCTL scientists were able to transfer the technology, so the product could be made quickly and effectively. ITHS also has a separate unit, the Translational Research Unit (TRU) that is co-located with GCTL and conducts the clinical trials. We not only manufacture the product, but also conduct the clinical trial in collaboration with Precigen. These strong partnerships are crucial to help speed this phase of the research process.
Collaboration
It has been an incredible collaboration. ITHS has played a critical role in helping speed up the development of this promising treatment and we are proud to be part of making progress in the battle against ovarian cancer.
In recognition of September being Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, ITHS is excited to share this story of hope. “In this video, we open the doors of our lab, to show you who we are and what we do as we stand by our mission to accelerate research and improve health for all patients and communities,” shared Dr. Nora Disis, ITHS Principal Investigator.