Developmental Therapeutics
The UW Carbone Developmental Therapeutics (DT) Program’s mission is to improve cancer patient outcomes by discovering new targets, developing therapeutic agents and biomarkers, and translating this research into early phase clinical trials.
The overarching goal of the DT Program is to identify more effective therapies and strategies for the treatment of patients with advanced cancer. The DT Program houses much of UW Carbone’s drug and biomarker discovery and development work, as well as preclinical and clinical translational efforts.
Program Leaders
Research Areas
Thematic Aim 1: Discover new molecular targets for cancer therapy. DT investigators are actively engaged in basic and translational research to identify new molecular targets for cancer therapy.
Thematic Aim 2: Develop new agents and biomarkers. New molecular targets will be translated by the timely development of therapeutic approaches. This includes isolation and characterization of new therapeutic agents and development of biomarkers and therapy-predictive assays for efficient translation of new agents and biomarkers.
Thematic Aim 3: Translate new therapies and biomarkers into clinical trials. New targets, agents, and biomarkers identified and developed within the DT Program (and other programs) are translated in proof-of-concept early phase clinical trials
Select Recent Accomplishments
In addition to cell free DNA, circulating tumor cell (CTC) analysis permits frequent, minimally invasive sampling of tumor cells for molecular assessment. An example of Aim 2 research being applied to clinical trials is being conducted by Lang, a DOD Physician Research Training Award recipient, in collaboration with Beebe (TM). They have optimized a microfluidic technology known as the VERSA (Vertical Exclusion-based Rare Sample Analysis) that integrates capture and analysis of rare tumor cells for protein, gene expression, and genomic information. VERSA utilizes a unique separation principle that enables multiple purification processes in sequence (e.g., cell capture, extracellular staining, nucleic acid extraction) for sequential extraction of multiple analytes from a single sample.
DNA vaccines represent a cost-effective approach to induce antigen-specific immunity. The McNeel lab has advanced a DNA vaccine against human Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP) and the Androgen-Receptor (AR) Ligand-Binding Domain (LBD) into clinical trials. With funding from the NIH/NCI and a DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program Clinical Trial Award, a Phase I and II dose- and schedule-evaluation trial was completed in patients with PSA-recurrent prostate cancer demonstrating that DNA immunization could safely elicit antigen-specific T-cell responses.