# Adult Leukemia Research Center

> **NIH NIH P01** · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER · 2024 · $4,359,202

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Overall
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and multiple myeloma (MM) are diseases of the elderly, with median incidence
of disease beyond 60 years of age. The mainstay of curative therapy for adult acute leukemia over the last two
decades in younger patients has been allogeneic stem cell or bone marrow transplantation (hereafter referred
to as HCT) but relapse remains the major limitation. MM has no traditional curative therapeutic options and
induction therapy is typically consolidated with autologous stem cell transplantation to prolong progression free
survival. However, relapse is largely inevitable. BCMA-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells induce
very high initial responses in relapsed/refractory MM but again, relapse dominates the clinical course of most
patients. T cell receptor transgenic (TCR Tg) T cells have recently shown promise in the prevention and
treatment of AML relapse after HCT. Unfortunately these Adoptive Cell Therapies (ACT) are also limited by
opportunistic infection and immune toxicity, namely graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after HCT, and Cytokine
Release Syndrome (CRS) after CAR T cell therapy. Project 1 of this Adult Leukemia Research Center (ALC)
grant seeks to understand the immunological underpinnings of immune toxicity and pathogen / leukemia and
myeloma specific immunity after ACT in preclinical systems, modelling the clinical studies within projects 2 and
3 in order to define innovative new approaches to prevent relapse and infection. In Project 2, we will design
and test new synthetic receptors that target MM antigens (Ag) with greater sensitivity and evaluate a novel
approach for incorporating co-stimulation to augment and sustain T cell function. Relapse is frequently
associated with loss of CAR T persistence and we will test a strategy that enriches memory stem cell
phenotypes in engineered T cells to improve persistence and potency. Finally, we will interrogate a rich
resource of samples from BCMA CAR T treated patients using high dimensional analysis to identify additional
tumor intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms associated with relapse that would inform further innovations to
improve outcomes. Project 3 will study the ability and mechanisms by which a new generation of TCR Tg T
cell targeting the Wilms tumor-1 (WT1) protein may prevent relapse in patients with high risk AML in patients
who are not candidates for HCT. All clinical studies will be accompanied by high dimensional analysis of
immune factors governing treatment success and failure. These highly interactive projects will be supported by
Administration, Biostatistics and Data Management, High Dimensional Cellular and Spatial Analysis
and Long Term Follow Up cores. This P01 renewal will bring together innovative preclinical and clinical
mechanistic studies underpinning novel transplant and T cell engineering platforms aimed at overcoming
current cell therapy limitations, namely toxicity and relapse. The program will...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10935583
- **Project number:** 2P01CA018029-48A1
- **Recipient organization:** FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Geoffrey Roger HILL
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $4,359,202
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 1997-08-28 → 2029-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10935583

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10935583, Adult Leukemia Research Center (2P01CA018029-48A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10935583. Licensed CC0.

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