Personalized T-cell therapy for acute myeloid leukemia
Personalized Adoptive T-cell Therapy for AML
This approach grows and activates your own leukemia-targeting T cells to help people with acute myeloid leukemia stay in remission.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11251612 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would have a personalized vaccine made by fusing some of your leukemia cells with your own dendritic immune cells so it presents many leukemia antigens. Doctors use that vaccine to stimulate and grow your leukemia-specific T cells in the lab with immune signals (IL-7 and IL-15) so the cells develop a long-lived, memory-type state. Those activated T cells would then be given back to you as adoptive cell therapy after you reach remission from chemotherapy. Earlier work showed serial vaccination kept 71% of patients disease-free at about five years, and the current work aims to use the activated cells while addressing the leukemia’s immunosuppressive environment.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Best suited for adults with acute myeloid leukemia who have achieved remission after chemotherapy and can provide tumor cells for vaccine manufacturing.
Not a fit: People with rapidly progressing or chemo-refractory AML who cannot reach remission, or those unable to provide tumor samples or undergo cell therapy, are unlikely to benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Could lower the chance of relapse by supplying long-lived, leukemia-specific immune cells that target remaining AML cells.
How similar studies have performed: A prior phase II using the same DC/AML fusion vaccine reported 71% of patients remained disease-free at a median follow-up of five years, so this approach has promising early human evidence even though adoptive T-cell work in AML is still evolving.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Avigan, David E. — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Avigan, David E.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.