Bollard Archives

Virginia Tech, Children’s National Hospital award $100,000 to fund collaborative cancer research pilot projects

January 13, 2021

This pilot research program represents a growing academic research partnership between Children’s National and Virginia Tech. Last year, the two institutions announced that Virginia Tech will establish a biomedical research facility on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.

Children’s National Hospital and Virginia Tech have awarded two $50,000 one-year pilot grants to multi-institutional teams of scientists for pediatric brain cancer research.

The inter-institutional program, which launched in December, promotes cross-disciplinary collaborations among researchers at both institutions. At Virginia Tech, the program is part of the Virginia Tech Cancer Research Alliance. Financial support for the program was provided by the Offices of the Physician-in-Chief and Chief Academic Officer at Children’s National, and by Virginia Tech’s Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology.

“We were delighted to see so many innovative and competitive research proposals for our first round of pilot grants in the area of brain cancer. By forging new research collaborations with our partners at Children’s National, we hope to make major strides in addressing one of the most common and devastating groups of cancers in children,” said Michael Friedlander, Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology, and the executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. “The pilot funding will bootstrap several programs to be able to acquire ongoing sustainable funding by providing the opportunity to test novel high impact ideas for new strategies for treating these disorders. There are simply too few good options for children in this space now and this partnership can change that for the better.”

The collaborative research initiative began through an agreement between the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and the Children’s National Research Institute. The collaborative teams formed through a series of interactive discussions among Virginia Tech’s Cancer Research Alliance faculty members from the university’s Blacksburg and Roanoke campuses, and Children’s National’s neuro-oncology researchers.

“I am extremely excited by this collaboration between VT and CNH that is focused on pediatric brain tumors which is such an area of unmet need,” said Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B.,, director of Children’s National’s Center for Cancer and Immunology Research. “I am confident that the funded proposals will soon advance our understanding of pediatric brain tumors and, more importantly, facilitate more joint efforts between two world-class institutions which is especially timely with the development of the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus.”

Yanxin Pei, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Center for Cancer Immunology Research at Children’s National, and Liwu Li, Ph.D., a professor of biological sciences in Virginia Tech’s College of Science, were awarded one of the pilot research grants to study how white blood cells called neutrophils are involved in metastatic MYC-driven medulloblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor in children that often resists conventional radiation and chemotherapies.

Yuan Zhu, Ph.D., the Gilbert Family Professor of Neurofibromatosis Research at Children’s National, and Susan Campbell, Ph.D., an assistant professor of animal and poultry sciences in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, were awarded funds to study glioma-induced seizures in mice with a genetic mutation that inhibits the production of P53, a key protein involved in suppressing cancer cell growth and division.

The successful applicants will receive funding starting this month and are expected to deliver preliminary data to support an extramural research application by 2024.

This pilot research program represents a growing academic research partnership between Children’s National and Virginia Tech. Last year, the two institutions announced that Virginia Tech will establish a biomedical research facility on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus. It will be the first research and innovation campus in the nation focused on pediatrics when it opens later this year and will house newly recruited teams of pediatric brain cancer researchers.

Liwu Li, Yanxin Pei, Susan Campbell, and Yuan Zhu

Liwu Li, Ph.D., Yanxin Pei, Ph.D., Susan Campbell, Ph.D., and Yuan Zhu, Ph.D., were awarded funding through the new pilot research program.

Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., named next editor-in-chief of Blood Advances

November 5, 2020

“As editor-in-chief, I will aim to capture new developments in the hematology field, including immunology, immunotherapy, cell therapy, gene and cell therapy and transplant,” said Dr. Bollard.

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has selected Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at the Children’s National Research Institute as the next editor-in-chief of its journal Blood Advances.

Blood Advances is a peer-reviewed online open access journal published by ASH that covers the latest developments in basic, translational and clinical hematology. Dr. Bollard’s term as editor-in-chief will begin in September 2021. She was selected by the ASH Executive Committee after a competitive international search.

“Blood Advances has a broad presence, a large and growing number of manuscript submissions, and an engaged readership,” said Dr. Bollard. “I am so looking forward to continuing to build and strengthen the journal as its editor-in-chief.”

Since its launch in 2016, Blood Advances has taken advantage of its digital, open-access publication model to emphasize multimedia and a rapid, continuous publication format. Under the leadership of founding editor-in-chief Robert Negrin, M.D., of Stanford University, the peer-reviewed journal has pioneered new means of interactive, collaborative discussion and achieved an impact factor of 4.910.

“As editor-in-chief, I will aim to capture new developments in the hematology field, including immunology, immunotherapy, cell therapy, gene and cell therapy and transplant,” said Dr. Bollard. Her vision for the future of Blood Advances also includes further expansion of the journal’s global reach as well as continued efforts to recruit an editorial team representing geographic, ethnic and gender diversity.

“We have tremendous opportunities for growth, and I think in order to grow we must consider what readers want, how we can provide quality service for authors and reviewers, and how we can establish our own identity as a journal,” she said.

Dr. Bollard is a hematologist whose research interests include developing cell and gene therapies for patients with cancer and underlying immune deficiencies. Recognized as a national and international leader in the bone marrow transplant, immunology and immunotherapy space, Dr. Bollard has an expansive understanding of cancer, immune deficiencies and viral infections in pediatric and adult patients.

In her role as director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s National Hospital, she works to establish clinical and research programs focused on developing and bringing novel cell therapies from bench to bedside.

“Blood Advances is an important hub for hypothesis-generating papers, pilot studies and case reports, commentaries and other educational materials of interest to hematologists everywhere,” said ASH President Stephanie Lee, M.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “I am confident that Dr. Bollard will continue leveraging the journal’s unique digital platform to maintain its tradition of excellence as she executes her vision as editor-in-chief. I look forward to seeing how the journal evolves under her leadership.”

T-cells show promise to protect vulnerable patients from COVID-19 infection

October 26, 2020

Children’s National Hospital immunotherapy experts have found that T-cells taken from the blood of people who recovered from a COVID-19 infection can be successfully multiplied in the lab and maintain the ability to effectively target proteins that are key to the virus’s function.

Children’s National Hospital immunotherapy experts have found that T-cells taken from the blood of people who recovered from a COVID-19 infection can be successfully multiplied in the lab and maintain the ability to effectively target proteins that are key to the virus’s function. Their findings were published Oct. 26, 2020, in Blood.

“We found that many people who recover from COVID-19 have T-cells that recognize and target viral proteins of SARS-CoV-2, giving them immunity from the virus because those T-cells are primed to fight it,” says Michael Keller, M.D., a pediatric immunology specialist at Children’s National Hospital, who led the study. “This suggests that adoptive immunotherapy using convalescent T-cells to target these regions of the virus may be an effective way to protect vulnerable people, especially those with compromised immune systems due to cancer therapy or transplantation.”

Based on evidence from previous phase 1 clinical trials using virus-targeting T-cells “trained” to target viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus, the researchers in the Cellular Therapy Program at Children’s National hypothesized that the expanded group of COVID-19 virus-targeting T-cells could be infused into immunocompromised patients, helping them build an immune response before exposure to the virus and therefore protecting the patient from a serious or life-threatening infection.

“We know that patients who have immune deficiencies as a result of pre-existing conditions or following bone marrow or solid organ transplant are extremely vulnerable to viruses like SARS-CoV-2,” says Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., senior author of the study and director of the novel cell therapies program and the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s National. “We’ve seen that these patients are unable to easily clear the virus on their own, and that can prevent or delay needed treatments to fight cancer or other diseases. This approach could serve as a viable option to protect or treat them, especially since their underlying conditions may make vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 unsafe or ineffective.”

The T-cells were predominantly grown from the peripheral blood of donors who were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2. The study also identified that SARS-CoV-2 directed T-cells have adapted to predominantly target specific parts of the viral proteins found on the cell membrane, revealing new ways that the immune system responds to COVID-19 infection.

Current vaccine research focuses on specific proteins found mainly on the “spikes” of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The finding that T-cells are successfully targeting a membrane protein instead may add another avenue for vaccine developers to explore when creating new therapeutics to protect against the virus.

“This work provides a powerful example of how both scientific advances and collaborative relationships developed in response to a particular challenge can have broad and unexpected impacts on other areas of human health,” says Brad Jones, Ph.D., an associate professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-author on the study, whose lab focuses on HIV cure research. “I began working with Dr. Bollard’s team several years ago out of our shared interest in translating her T-cell therapy approaches to HIV. This put us in a position to quickly team up to help develop the approach for COVID-19.”

The Cellular Therapy Program is now seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a phase 1 trial that will track safety and effectiveness of using COVID-19-specific T-cells to boost the immune response in patients with compromised immune systems, particularly for patients after bone marrow transplant.

COVID-19 Pandemic: 3rd Annual CN – NIAID Virtual Symposium

October 2, 2020

The CN-NIAID Virtual Symposium highlighted work being done to fight the COVID-19 pandemic globally.

Children’s National Research Institute releases annual report

May 19, 2020

Children’s National Research Institute directors Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., and Mark Batshaw, M.D.

The Children’s National Research Institute recently released its 2019-2020 academic annual report, titled 150 Years Stronger Through Discovery and Care to mark the hospital’s 150^th birthday. Not only does the annual report give an overview of the institute’s research and education efforts, but it also gives a peek in to how the institute has mobilized to address the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our inaugural research program in 1947 began with a budget of less than $10,000 for the study of polio — a pressing health problem for Washington’s children at the time and a pandemic that many of us remember from our own childhoods,” says Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., chief research officer at Children’s National Hospital and scientific director at Children’s National Research Institute. “Today, our research portfolio has grown to more than $75 million, and our 314 research faculty and their staff are dedicated to finding answers to many of the health challenges in childhood.”

Highlights from the Children’s National Research Institute annual report

In 2018, Children’s National began construction of its new Research & Innovation Campus (CNRIC) on 12 acres of land transferred by the U.S. Army as part of the decommissioning of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus. In 2020, construction on the CNRIC will be complete, and in 2012, the Children’s National Research Institute will begin to transition to the campus.
In late 2019, a team of scientists led by Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Genetic Medicine Research, traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to collect samples from 60 individuals that will form the basis of a new reference genome data set. The researchers hope their project will generate better reference genome data for diverse populations, starting with those of Central African descent.
A gift of $5.7 million received by the Center for Translational Research’s director, Lisa Guay-Woodford, M.D., will reinforce close collaboration between research and clinical care to improve the care and treatment of children with polycystic kidney disease and other inherited renal disorders.
The Center for Neuroscience Research’s integration into the infrastructure of Children’s National Hospital has created a unique set of opportunities for scientists and clinicians to work together on pressing problems in children’s health.
Children’s National and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are tackling pediatric research across three main areas of mutual interest: primary immune deficiencies, food allergies and post-Lyme disease syndrome. Their shared goal is to conduct clinical and translational research that improves what we know about those conditions and how we care for children who have them.
An immunotherapy trial has allowed a little boy to be a kid again. In the two years since he received cellular immunotherapy, Matthew has shown no signs of a returning tumor — the longest span of time he’s been tumor-free since age 3.
In the past 6 years, the 104 device projects that came through the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation accelerator program raised $148,680,256 in follow-on funding.
Even though he’s watched more than 500 aspiring physicians pass through the Children’s National pediatric residency program, program director Dewesh Agrawal, M.D., still gets teary at every graduation.

Understanding and treating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

In a short period of time, Children’s National Research Institute has mobilized its scientists to address COVID-19, focusing on understanding the virus and advancing solutions to ameliorate the impact today and for future generations. Children’s National Research Institute Director Mark Batshaw, M.D., highlighted some of these efforts in the annual report:

Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Genetic Medicine Research, is looking at whether or not the microbiome of bacteria in the human nasal tract acts as a defensive shield against COVID-19.
Catherine Bollard, M.D., MBChB, director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, and her team are seeing if they can “train” T cells to attack the invading coronavirus.
Sarah Mulkey, M.D., Ph.D., an investigator in the Center for Neuroscience Research and the Fetal Medicine Institute, is studying the effects of, and possible interventions for, coronavirus on the developing brain.

You can view the entire Children’s National Research Institute academic annual report online.

It’s a three-peat! Children’s National again competes in STAT Madness

March 4, 2020

Vote for STAT Madness

Children’s National Hospital collects patients’ blood, extracts T-cells and replicates them in the presence of specific proteins found on cancer cells which, in essence, teaches the T-cells to target specific tumor markers. Training the T-cells, growing them to sufficient quantities and ensuring they are safe for administration takes weeks. But when patients return to the outpatient clinic, their T-cell infusion lasts just a few minutes.

For the third consecutive year, Children’s National was selected to compete in STAT Madness, an annual bracket-style competition that chooses the year’s most impactful biomedical innovation by popular vote. Children’s entry, “Immunotherapy of relapsed and refractory solid tumors with ex vivo expanded multi-tumor associated antigen specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes,” uses the body’s own immune system to attack and eliminate cancer cells in pediatric and adult patients with solid tumor malignancies.

In 2018, Children’s first-ever STAT Madness entry advanced through five brackets in the national competition and, in the championship round, finished second. That innovation, which enables more timely diagnoses of rare diseases and common genetic disorders, helping to improve kids’ health outcomes around the world, also was among four “Editor’s Pick” finalists, entries that spanned a diverse range of scientific disciplines.

An estimated 11,000 new cases of pediatric cancer were diagnosed in children 14 and younger in the U.S. in 2019. And, when it comes to disease, cancer remains the leading cause of death among children, according to the National Institutes of Health. An enterprising research team led by Children’s National faculty leveraged T-cells – essential players in the body’s immune system – to treat pediatric and adult patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors who had exhausted all other therapeutic options.

“We’re using the patient’s own immune system to fight their cancer, rather than more traditional chemotherapy drugs,” says Catherine M. Bollard, M.D., director of the Center for Cancer & Immunology Research at Children’s National and co-senior author of the study. “It’s more targeted and less toxic to the patient. These T-cells home in on any cancer cells that might be in the body, allowing healthy cells to continue to grow,” Dr. Bollard adds.

That means patients treated in the Phase I, first-in-human trial didn’t lose their hair and weren’t hospitalized for the treatment. After a quick clinical visit for their treatment, they returned to normal activities, like school, with good energy levels.

“With our specially trained T-cell therapy, many patients who previously had rapidly progressing disease experienced prolonged disease stabilization,” says Holly J. Meany, M.D., a Children’s National oncologist and the study’s co-senior author. “Patients treated at the highest dose level showed the best clinical outcomes, with a six-month, progression-free survival of 73% after tumor-associated antigen cytotoxic T-cell (TAA-T) infusion, compared with 38% with their immediate prior therapy.”

The multi-institutional team published their findings from the study online July 29, 2019, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“Our research team and our parents are delighted that some patients treated in our study continue to do well following T-cell therapy without additional treatment. In some cases, two years after treatment, patients do not appear to have active disease and are maintaining an excellent quality of life,” says Amy B. Hont, M.D., the study’s lead author. “One of these was a patient whose parents were told his only other option was palliative care. Our innovation gives these families new hope,” Dr. Hont adds.

The 2020 STAT Madness #Core64 bracket opened March 2, and the champion will be announced April 6.

In addition to Drs. Hont, Meany and Bollard, Children’s National co-authors include C. Russell Cruz, M.D., Ph.D., Robert Ulrey, MS, Barbara O’Brien, BS, Maja Stanojevic, M.D., Anushree Datar, MS, Shuroug Albihani, MS, Devin Saunders, BA, Ryo Hanajiri, M.D., Ph.D., Karuna Panchapakesan, MS, Payal Banerjee, MS, Maria Fernanda Fortiz, BS, Fahmida Hoq, MBBS, MS, Haili Lang, M.D., Yunfei Wang, DrPH, Patrick J. Hanley, Ph.D., and Jeffrey S. Dome, M.D., Ph.D.; and Sam Darko, MS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Financial support for the research described in this post was provided by the Children’s National Hospital Heroes Gala, Alex’s Army Foundation, the Children’s National Board of Visitors and Hyundai Hope on Wheels Young Investigator Grant to Support Pediatric Cancer Research, the Children’s National Research Institute Bioinformatics Unit, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the National Institutes of Health under award No. UL1-TR001876.

Tailored T-cell therapies neutralize viruses that threaten kids with PID

November 18, 2019

t-cells

Tailored T-cells specially designed to combat a half dozen viruses are safe and may be effective in preventing and treating multiple viral infections, according to research led by Children’s National Hospital faculty.

Catherine Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s National and the study’s senior author, presented the teams’ findings Nov. 8, 2019, during a second-annual symposium jointly held by Children’s National and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Children’s National and NIAID formed a research partnership in 2017 to develop and conduct collaborative clinical research studies focused on young children with allergic, immunologic, infectious and inflammatory diseases. Each year, they co-host a symposium to exchange their latest research findings.

According to the NIH, more than 200 forms of primary immune deficiency diseases impact about 500,000 people in the U.S. These rare, genetic diseases so impair the person’s immune system that they experience repeated and sometimes rare infections that can be life threatening. After a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, brand new stem cells can rebuild the person’s missing or impaired immune system. However, during the window in which the immune system rebuilds, patients can be vulnerable to a host of viral infections.

Because viral infections can be controlled by T-cells, the body’s infection-fighting white blood cells, the Children’s National first-in-humans Phase 1 dose escalation trial aimed to determine the safety of T-cells with antiviral activity against a half dozen opportunistic viruses: adenovirus, BK virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Human Herpesvirus 6 and human parainfluenza-3 (HPIV3).

Eight patients received the hexa-valent, virus-specific T-cells after their stem cell transplants:

Three patients were treated for active CMV, and the T-cells resolved their viremia.
Two patients treated for active BK virus had complete symptom resolution, while one had hemorrhagic cystitis resolved but had fluctuating viral loads in their blood and urine.
Of two patients treated prophylactically, one developed EBV viremia that was treated with rituximab.

Two additional patients received the T-cell treatments under expanded access for emergency treatment, one for disseminated adenoviremia and the other for HPIV3 pneumonia. While these critically ill patients had partial clinical improvement, they were being treated with steroids which may have dampened their antiviral responses.

“These preliminary results show that hexaviral-specific, virus-specific T-cells are safe and may be effective in preventing and treating multiple viral infections,” says Michael Keller, M.D., a pediatric immunologist at Children’s National and the lead study author. “Of note, enzyme-linked immune absorbent spot assays showed evidence of antiviral T-cell activity by three months post infusion in three of four patients who could be evaluated and expansion was detectable in two patients.”

In addition to Drs. Bollard and Keller, additional study authors include Katherine Harris M.D.; Patrick J. Hanley Ph.D., assistant research professor in the Center for Cancer and Immunology; Allistair Abraham, M.D., a blood and marrow transplantation specialist; Blachy J. Dávila Saldaña, M.D., Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation; Nan Zhang Ph.D.; Gelina Sani BS; Haili Lang MS; Richard Childs M.D.; and Richard Jones M.D.

###

Children’s National-NIAID 2019 symposium presentations

“Welcome and introduction”
H. Clifford Lane, M.D., director of NIAID’s Division of Clinical Research

“Lessons and benefits from collaboration between the NIH and a free-standing children’s hospital”
Marshall L. Summar, M.D., director, Rare Disease Institute, Children’s National

“The hereditary disorders of PropionylCoA and Cobalamin Metabolism – past, present and future”
Charles P. Venditti, M.D., Ph.D., National Human Genome Research Institute Collaboration

“The road(s) to genetic precision therapeutics in pediatric neuromuscular disease: opportunities and challenges”
Carsten G. Bönnemann, M.D., National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

“Genomic diagnostics in immunologic diseases”
Helen Su, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

“Update on outcomes of gene therapy clinical trials for X-SCID and X-CGD and plans for future trials”
Harry Malech, M.D., National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

“Virus-specific T-cell therapies: broadening applicability for PID patients”
Catherine Bollard, M.D., Children’s National

“Using genetic testing to guide therapeutic decisions in Primary Immune Deficiency Disease”
Vanessa Bundy, M.D., Ph.D., Children’s National

Panel discussion moderated by Lisa M. Guay-Woodford, M.D.
Drs. Su, Malech, Bollard and Bundy
Morgan Similuk, S.C.M., NIAID
Maren Chamorro, Parent Advocate

“Underlying mechanisms of pediatric food allergy: focus on B cells
Adora Lin, M.D., Ph.D., Children’s National

“Pediatric Lyme outcomes study – interim update”
Roberta L. DeBiasi, M.D., MS, Children’s National

“Molecular drivers and opportunities in neuroimmune conditions of pediatric onset”
Elizabeth Wells, M.D., Children’s National

Can cells collected from bone marrow stimulate generation of new neurons in babies with CHD?

November 13, 2019

The goal of the study will be to optimize brain development in babies with congenital heart disease (CHD) who sometimes demonstrate delay in the development of cognitive and motor skills.

An upcoming clinical trial at Children’s National Hospital will harness cardiopulmonary bypass as a delivery mechanism for a novel intervention designed to stimulate brain growth and repair in children who undergo cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD).

The NIH has awarded Children’s National $2.5 million to test the hypothesis that mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), which have been shown to possess regenerative properties and the ability to modulate immune responses in a variety of diseases, collected from allogeneic bone marrow, may promote regeneration of damaged neuronal and glial cells in the early postnatal brain. If successful, the trial will determine the safety of the proposed treatment in humans and set the stage for a Phase 2 efficacy trial of what could potentially be the first treatment for delays in brain development that happen before birth as a consequence of congenital heart disease. The study is a single-center collaboration between three Children’s National physician-researchers: Richard Jonas, M.D., Catherine Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D. and Nobuyuki Ishibashi, M.D.

Dr. Jonas, chief of cardiac surgery at Children’s National, will outline the trial and its aims on Monday, November 18, 2019, at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2019. Dr. Jonas was recently recognized by the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative for his lifelong research of how cardiac surgery impacts brain growth and development in children with CHD.

###

Regenerative Cell Therapy in Congenital Heart Disease – Protecting the Immature Brain
Presented by Richard Jonas, M.D.
AHA Scientific Sessions
Session CH.CVS.608 Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology Seminar: A Personalized Approach to Heart Disease in Children
9:50 a.m. to 10:05 a.m.
November 18, 2019

Fighting lymphoma with targeted T-cells

August 28, 2019

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is best known as the cause of mononucleosis, the ubiquitous “kissing disease” that most people contract at some point in their life. But in rare instances, this virus plays a more sinister role as the impetus of lymphomas, cancers that affect the white blood cells known as lymphocytes.

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is best known as the cause of mononucleosis, the ubiquitous “kissing disease” that most people contract at some point in their life. But in rare instances, this virus plays a more sinister role as the impetus of lymphomas, cancers that affect the white blood cells known as lymphocytes. EBV-associated lymphomas account for about 40% of Hodgkin lymphomas, 20% of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, and more than 90% of natural killer/T-cell lymphomas. This latter type of lymphoma typically has a very poor prognosis even with the “standard of care” lymphoma treatments such as chemotherapy and/or radiation.

When these interventions fail, the only curative approach is an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant from a healthy donor, a treatment that’s tough on patients’ bodies and carries significant risks, says Lauren P. McLaughlin, M.D., a pediatrician specializing in hematology and oncology at Children’s National in Washington, D.C. Patients who receive these allogenic transplants are immune-compromised until the donor cells engraft; the grafts can attack patients’ healthy cells in a phenomenon called graft versus host disease; and if patients relapse or don’t respond to this treatment, few options remain.

To help improve outcomes, Dr. McLaughlin and colleagues tested an addition to the allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant procedure for patients with EBV-associated lymphomas: infusion of a type of immune cell called T cells specifically trained to fight cells infected with EBV.

Dr. McLaughlin, along with Senior Author Catherine M. Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research and the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy at Children’s National, and colleagues tested this therapy in 26 patients treated at Children’s National or Baylor College of Medicine. They published these results online on Sept. 27, 2018, in the journal Blood. The study was a Phase I clinical trial, meaning that the therapy was tested primarily for safety, with efficacy as a secondary aim.

Seven patients who received the therapy had active disease that had not responded to conventional therapies. The other 19 were patients deemed to be at high risk for relapse.

Before each patient received their stem cell transplant, their donors gave an additional blood sample to generate the cancer-fighting T cells. Over the next 8 to 10 weeks, the researchers painstakingly manufactured the immune cells known as T-cells that specifically targeted EBV, growing these cells into numbers large enough for clinical use. Then, as early as 30 days after transplant, the researchers infused these T-cells into patients administering at least two doses, spaced two weeks apart.

Over the next several weeks, the researchers at CNMC and Baylor College of Medicine monitored patients with comprehensive exams to see how they fared after these transplants. The results showed that adverse effects from the treatment were exceedingly rare. There were no immediate infusion-related toxicities to the T-cell therapy and only one incident of dose-limiting toxicity.

This therapy may be efficacious, depending on the individual patients’ circumstances, Dr McLaughlin adds. For those in complete remission but at high risk of relapsing, the two-year survival rate was 78%, suggesting that the administration of this novel T-cell therapy may give the immune system a boost to prevent the lymphoma from returning after transplant. For patients with active T-cell lymphomas, two-year survival rates were 60%. However, even these lower rates are better than the historical norm of 30-50%, suggesting that the targeted T-cell therapies could help fight disease in patients with this poor prognosis lymphoma.

Dr. McLaughlin, the study’s lead author and a Lymphoma Research Foundation grantee, notes that researchers have more work to do before this treatment becomes mainstream. For example, this treatment will need to be tested in larger populations of patients with EBV-related lymphoma to determine who would derive the most benefit, the ideal dose and dose timing. It also may be possible to extend targeted T-cell treatments like this to other types of cancers. In the future, Dr. McLaughlin adds, it may be possible to develop T-cells that could be used “off the shelf”—in other words, they wouldn’t need to come from a matched donor and would be ready to use whenever a recipient needs them. Another future goal is using this therapy as one of the first lines of treatment rather than as a last resort.

“Our ultimate goal is to find a way to avoid chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy while still effectively treating a patient’s cancer,” she says. “Can you use the immune system to do that job? We’re working to answer that question.”

In addition to Drs. McLaughlin and Bollard, study co-authors include Rayne Rouce, Stephen Gottschalk, Vicky Torrano, George Carrum, Andrea M. Marcogliese, Bambi Grilley, Adrian P. Gee, Malcolm K. Brenner, Cliona M. Rooney and Helen E. Heslop, all of Baylor College of Medicine; Meng-Fen Wu from the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Fahmida Hoq and Patrick J. Hanley, Ph.D. from Children’s National in Washington, D.C.

TAA-Ts as therapy for tumors

August 1, 2019

“The T cell immunotherapy regimen resulted in prolonged disease stabilization in patients who previously experienced rapid tumor progression,” says Holly Meany, M.D. “The therapy could prove to be an important component of immunotherapy for patients with solid tumor malignancies.”

In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers from Children’s National Health System uncovered tumor-associated antigen cytotoxic T cells (TAA-Ts) that represent a new and potentially effective nontoxic therapeutic approach for patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors.

The Phase 1 study led by Children’s National pediatric oncologists Holly Meany, M.D., and Amy B. Hont, M.D., represented the first in-human trial investigating the safety of administering TAA-Ts that target Wilms Tumor gene 1, a preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma and survivin in patients with relapsed/refractory solid tumors.

“These are exciting clinical results using a novel ‘first in-human’ T cell therapy,” said Catherine Bollard, MB.Ch.B., M.D., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s Research Institute. “This T cell therapy was safe and appeared to prolong patients’ time to progression which suggests that we can now use this novel treatment as a combination therapy to hopefully achieve long-term remissions in pediatrics and adults with relapsed/refractory solid tumors.”

During the Phase 1 trial, TAA-Ts products were generated from autologous peripheral blood and were infused over three dose levels. Patients were then eligible for up to eight infusions that were administered four to seven weeks apart.

Of the 15 evaluable patients, 11 were with stable disease or better at 45 days post-infusion and were defined as responders. Patients who were treated at the highest dose level showed the best clinical outcomes, with a 6-month progression-free survival rate of 73% after TAA-Ts infusion, an improvement as compared with prior therapy.

Overall, the Phase 1 trial of TAA-Ts resulted in safely induced disease stabilization and was associated with antigen spreading and a reduction in circulating tumor-associated antigen DNA levels in patients with relapsed/refractory solid tumors before infusion.

“The T cell immunotherapy regimen resulted in prolonged disease stabilization in patients who previously experienced rapid tumor progression,” said Dr. Meany. “The therapy could prove to be an important component of immunotherapy for patients with solid tumor malignancies,” she added.

The other researchers that contributed to this work are as follows: Amy B. Hont, M.D.; C. Russell Cruz, M.D., Ph.D.; Robert Ulrey, M.S.; Barbara O’Brien, B.S.; Maja Stanojevic, M.D.; Anushree Datar, M.S.; Shuroug Albihani, M.S.; Devin Saunders, B.A.; Ryo Hanajiri, M.D., Ph.D.; Karuna Panchapakesan, M.S.; Sam Darko, M.S.; Payal Banerjee, M.S.; Maria Fernanda Fortiz, B.S.; Fahmida Hoq, MBBS, M.S.; Haili Lang, M.D.; Yunfei Wang, Dr.PH.; Patrick J. Hanley, Ph.D.; Jeffrey S. Dome, M.D., Ph.D.; Catherine M. Bollard, M.D.; and Holly J. Meany, M.D.

Researchers receive $2.5M grant to optimize brain development in babies with CHD

July 3, 2019

baby cardioilogy patient

Children’s National Health System researchers Richard Jonas, M.D., Catherine Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D., and Nobuyuki Ishibashi, M.D., have been awarded a $2.5 million, three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a single-center clinical trial at Children’s National. The study will involve collaboration between the Children’s National Heart Institute, the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, the Center for Neuroscience Research and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation.

The goal of the study will be to optimize brain development in babies with congenital heart disease (CHD) who sometimes demonstrate delay in the development of cognitive and motor skills. This can be a result of multiple factors including altered prenatal oxygen delivery, brain blood flow and genetic factors associated with surgery including exposure to the heart lung machine.

The award will be used to complete three specific aims of a Phase 1 safety study as described in the NIH grant:

Aim 1: To determine the safety and feasibility of delivering allogeneic bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cell (BM-MSC) during heart surgery in young infants less than 3 months of age using the heart lung machine. The optimal safe dose will be determined.
Aim 2: To determine the impact of MSC infusion on brain structure using advanced neuroimaging and neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Aim 3: To determine differences in postoperative inflammatory and patho-physiological variables after MSC delivery in the infant with CHD.

“NIH supported studies in our laboratory have shown that MSC therapy may be extremely helpful in improving brain development in animal models after cardiac surgery,” says Dr. Ishibashi. “MSC infusion can help reduce inflammation including prolonged microglia activation that can occur during surgery that involves the heart lung machine.”

In addition the researchers’ studies have demonstrated that cell-based intervention can promote white matter regeneration through progenitor cells, restoring the neurogenic potential of the brain’s own stem cells that are highly important in early brain development.

The Phase 1 clinical trial is being implemented in two stages beginning with planning, regulatory documentation, training and product development. During the execution phase, the trial will focus on patient enrollment. Staff from the Cellular Therapy Laboratory, led by director Patrick Hanley, Ph.D., manufactured the BM-MSC at the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, led by Dr. Bollard. The Advanced Pediatric Brain Imaging Laboratory, led by Catherine Limperopoulos, Ph.D., will perform MR imaging.

The phase 1 safety study will set the stage for a phase 2 effectiveness trial of this highly innovative MSC treatment aimed at reducing brain damage, minimizing neurodevelopmental disabilities and improving the postoperative course in children with CHD. The resulting improvement in developmental outcome and lessened behavioral impairment will be of enormous benefit to individuals with CHD.

Engineering TGFB receptor to enhance NK cells and fight neuroblastoma

May 7, 2019

“In this study, we have genetically engineered cord blood derived NK cells so that they are not only resistant to the devastating effects of TGFb, but they are not able to become activated in the presence of TGFb,” said, Catherine Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D.

Catherine Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D., and her research team published results showing potential efficacy of a novel cell therapy for treatment of pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma.

The research paper, entitled, “Engineering the TGFβ receptor to Enhance the Therapeutic Potential of Natural Killer Cell as an Immunotherapy for Neuroblastoma,” was published on April 29, 2019 by Clinical Cancer Research and is being recognized for the potential efficacy of the “off the shelf” treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma.

The researcher’s approach allows them to manipulate Natural Killer (NK) cells, expand and reinfuse them within a patient so they can fight cancer and disease.

“In this study, we have genetically engineered cord blood derived NK cells so that they are not only resistant to the devastating effects of TGFb, but they are not able to become activated in the presence of TGFb,” said, Dr. Bollard, who is the senior corresponding author of the study and director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at the Children’s Research Institute. “In other words, turning the negative effects of TGFb into positive effects enhances the persistence and anti-tumor activity of these tumor-killing NK cells in vivo.”

NK cells are highly cytolytic, and their potent antitumor effects can be rapidly triggered by a lack of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) expression on interacting target cells, as in the case for a majority of solid tumors, including neuroblastoma. With neuroblastoma being a leading cause of pediatric cancer-related deaths, it presents as an ideal candidate for NK cell therapy.

“This manuscript encompasses a significant portion of work, in which we generated genetically-modified NK cells as an enhanced form of immunotherapy for neuroblastoma,” said Rachel Burga, Ph.D., lead author and graduate of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at George Washington and Children’s National Health System. “We’re very excited to share our pre-clinical findings which demonstrate the efficacy of approaches to “hijack” the TGFb receptor and target TGFb in the tumor microenvironment.”

She added that the approach will allow for the NK cells to simultaneously resist the immune suppression in the microenvironment and initiate activation to increase their ability to target tumor cells.

Pre-clinical testing and research for this trial began in 2016 and ended in 2019. “The idea came from a Department of Defense award given to Dr. Bollard and Dr. Cruz and they took the idea and reduced it to practice and showed feasibility for pre-clinical trial,” said Rohan Fernandes, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at George Washington University and senior author on the manuscript.

Fernandes added that the timeframe to start the clinical trial is within the next two to four years at Children’s National.

Additional authors include Rachel A. Burga, Ph.D., Eric Yvon, Rohan Fernandes, Conrad Russell Cruz, and Catherine M. Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D.

Clinical Trial Spotlight: Creating a super army to target CNS tumors

April 1, 2019

Following the noted success of CAR-T cells in treating leukemia, Eugene Hwang, M.D., and a team of physicians at Children’s National are studying the efficacy of using these white blood cell “armies” to fight central nervous system (CNS) tumors.

Following the noted success of CAR-T cells in treating leukemia, physicians at Children’s National are studying the efficacy of using these white blood cell “armies” to fight central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Employing a strategy of “supertraining” the cells to target and attack three tumor targets as opposed to just one, Eugene Hwang, M.D., and the team at Children’s are optimistic about using this immunotherapy technique on a patient population that hasn’t previously seen much promise for treatment or cure. The therapy is built on the backbone of T cell technology championed by Catherine Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, which is only available at Children’s National. Hwang sees this trial as an exciting start to using T cells to recognize resistant brain cancer. “We have never before been able to pick out markers on brain cancer and use the immune system to help us attack the cancer cells. This strategy promises to help us find treatments that are better at killing cancer and lessening side effects,” he says.

PI: Eugene Hwang, M.D.
Title: Phase 1 Research on Multi-antigen T Cell Infusion Against Neuro-oncologic Disease
Status: Currently enrolling

This Phase 1 dose-escalation is designed to determine the safety and feasibility of rapidly generated tumor multiantigen associated specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (TAA-T) in patients with newly diagnosed diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs) or recurrent, progressive or refractory non-brainstem CNS malignancies. Pediatric and adult patients who have high-risk CNS tumors with known positivity for one or more Tumor Associated Antigens (TAA) (WT1, PRAME and/or surviving) will be enrolled in one of two groups: Group A includes patients with newly diagnosed DIPGs who will undergo irradiation as part of their upfront therapy and Group B includes patients with recurrent, progressive or refractory CNS tumors including medulloblastoma, non-brainstem high-grade glioma, and ependymoma, among others. TAA-T will be generated from a patient’s peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or by apheresis. This protocol is designed as a phase 1 dose-escalation study. Group A patients: TAA-T will be infused any time >2 weeks after completion of radiotherapy. Group B patients: TAA-T will be infused any time >2 after completing the most recent course of conventional (non-investigational) therapy for their disease AND after appropriate washout periods as detailed in eligibility criteria.

For more information about this trial, contact:

Eugene Hwang, M.D.
202-476-5046
ehwang@childrensnational.org

Click here to view Open Phase 1 and 2 Cancer Clinical Trials at Children’s National.

The Children’s National Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders is committed to providing the best care for pediatric patients. Our experts play an active role in innovative clinical trials to advance pediatric cancer care. We offer access to novel trials and therapies, some of which are only available here at Children’s National. With research interests covering nearly aspect of pediatric cancer care, our work is making great advancements in childhood cancer.

Manufacturing technologies lag behind breakthroughs in CAR-T cancer treatment

February 14, 2019

tubes filled with pink liquid

Drug companies around the country are banking on the cutting-edge cancer treatments known as CAR-T, but many manufacturing processes are holding back the treatment from reaching the market. With the success of CAR-T, which essentially re-trains T Cells to identify and target the cancer-causing cells, many manufacturers still need to catch up in the development process.

Currently, there are nearly 700 CAR-T studies in the database ClinicalTrials.gov, including 152 industry-sponsored trials that are active, recruiting or enrolling by invitation. According to market research firm, Coherent Market Insights, they predict the CAR-T market will grow to $8 billion worldwide by 2028 from $168 million in 2018.

Catherine Bollard, M.B.Ch.B., M.D., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at Children’s National Health System, was featured in a recent Bloomberg Law article stating that academics, industry participants and medical product regulators are trying to catch up with the technology and determine the best standards for developing these products. Although this is an exciting and positive time in the field of oncology, it also presents a big learning curve.

Making these cells requires extracting patients T cells. They are then genetically engineered in a laboratory to produce proteins that allow them to identify cancer-causing cells. The new cells are then multiplied and then reintroduced into the body to kill off the cancer cells. The entire process can take a few weeks to complete.

“This is not a drug,” Bollard said. “This is a living biologic, and it comes from the patient and individuals. There’s so much variability.”

Along with manufacturing challenges, the outlook on creating more therapies is looking good. The FDA predicts that it will be approving 10 to 20 gene therapy products a year by 2025. Other companies are working to develop a manufacturing platform that can help reduce the complexity of the current system and ultimately make CAR-T manufacturing easier to scale.

Leading blood disorder experts from Children’s National convene in Atlanta for 59th American Society of Hematology annual meeting

January 9, 2018

In early December 2017, more than 25,000 attendees from around the world, including several experts from Children’s National Health System, convened in Atlanta for the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting and exposition, the world’s premiere hematology event. For four days, physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals attended sessions, listened to speakers and collaborated with each other, focusing on enhancing care and treatment options for patients with blood disorders and complications, including leukemia, sickle cell disease and transplants.

As nationally recognized leaders in the field, the Children’s National team led educational sessions and gave keynote speeches highlighting groundbreaking work underway at the hospital, which sparked engaging and productive conversations among attendees. Highlights from the team include:

Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., Director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research, educating global experts on cellular immunotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Kirsten Williams, M.D., bone and marrow transplant specialist, presenting novel work utilizing TAA-specific T cells for hematologic malignancies with Dr. Bollard, the sponsor of this first-in-man immunotherapy; moderating sessions on immunotherapy and late complications and survivorship after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Allistair Abraham, M.D., blood and marrow transplantation specialist, moderating a session on hemoglobinopathies.
David Jacobsohn, M.D., ScM, Division Chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, moderating a session on allogeneic transplantation results.
Naomi Luban, M.D., hematologist and laboratory medicine specialist, introducing a plenary speaker on the application of CRISPR/Cas 9 technology for development of diagnostic reagents for diagnosis of alloimmunization from stem cells.

Additional presentations from the Children’s National team included an oral abstract on the hospital’s work to improve hydroxyurea treatment for sickle cell disease by pediatric resident Sarah Kappa, M.D., who also received an ASH Abstract Achievement Award; another key session on hemoglobinopathies moderated by Andrew Campbell, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Program; an abstract on the clinical use of CMV- specific T-cells derived from CMV-native donors, presented by Patrick Hanley, Ph.D.; a leukemia study presented by Anne Angiolillo, M.D., oncologist; and a presentation about pain measurement tools in sickle cell disease by Deepika Darbari, M.D., hematologist.

Combined FACT accreditation related to cellular immunotherapy spotlights Children’s ongoing commitment to revolutionary cancer therapies

November 14, 2017

DNA strand and Cancer Cell

As new immunotherapy treatments are starting to hit the market, care-delivery must adapt so that facilities are prepared to deliver these novel treatments to patients. Children’s National is proud to announce that it became the first pediatric medical institution in the United States to receive accreditations for both immune effector cells and more than minimal manipulation from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). Considered the threshold for excellence in cellular therapy, FACT establishes standards for high-quality medical and laboratory practice in the field.

“We are proud to receive these critically important seals of approval,” said David Jacobsohn, M.D., ScM, division chief of the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Children’s National. “Our patients are our highest priority and having these accreditations only further demonstrates our commitment to providing the most innovative care.”

The first new designation, FACT Accreditation for Immune Effector Cells, certifies that Children’s National is able to safely administer cutting-edge cellular therapies and monitor and report patient outcomes. The designation applies to CAR-T cells and therapeutic vaccines, among other therapies.

“We continuously set high standards for cellular therapy within the walls of Children’s National, and we are thrilled to be recognized for our leadership in this field,” said Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., director of the Center for Cancer and Immunology Research within the Children’s Research Institute. “Cell therapies represent the next generation of cancer treatment, and we are excited to continue our journey in revolutionizing patient care.”

Children’s National also received FACT Accreditation for More than Minimal Manipulation,

a designation that is unique to only a few pediatric institutions in the United States. This accreditation certifies that Children’s National is prepared to safely manufacture its own cellular therapies.

“Being accredited for More than Minimal Manipulation is a tremendous achievement for us as a stand-alone pediatric institution; it exemplifies our ability to manufacture our own innovative cellular therapy products for patients in need,” said Patrick Hanley, Ph.D., director of the Cellular Therapy Laboratory where the cells are manufactured for clinical use. “These two accreditations allow Children’s National to serve as a complex immunotherapy center that is capable of providing immunotherapies and gene therapies from external groups and companies.”

Advancing cures for pediatric cancer: Highlights from leading Children’s National experts at SIOP 2017

November 14, 2017

In mid-October 2017, nearly 2,000 clinicians, scientists, nurses, health care professionals and cancer patients and survivors gathered in Washington, D.C., for SIOP 2017, the Annual Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology. For four days, attendees heard from world-renowned experts while exchanging ideas and information, all in the name of advancing cures for childhood cancer.

Hosted in the hometown of Children’s National Health System and chaired by Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and Chief of Oncology at Children’s National Health System, more than 20 doctors and nurses from Children’s National made an impact on participants through a series of widely attended sessions and addresses, including:

Symposium lecture on the latest approaches in anti-viral T-cell therapy to improve patient outcomes, given by Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B.
Keynote lecture on DICER1 mutations in pediatric cancer, given by Ashley Hill, M.D., whose study of a rare childhood lung cancer and gene mutations set the stage for a better understanding of microRNA processing gene mutations in the development of pediatric cancer.
Education session on new therapies for sarcomas, led by AeRang Kim, M.D., Ph.D., and Karun Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., sharing research on new approaches for local control of sarcomas, such as surgery, radiation and other ablative measures.
Education session on new therapies for gliomas, led by Roger J. Packer, M.D., with presentations on immunotherapy from Eugene Hwang, M.D., and targeted therapy by Lindsay Kilburn, M.D.
Podium paper presentation on a new method to measure cancer treatment toxicities as reported by the child by Pamela Hinds, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, as well as an education session on advanced care planning, led by Hinds with a presentation from Maureen E. Lyon, Ph.D.

“These sessions and lectures provided a glimpse into the groundbreaking work by SIOP attendees from around the world,” says Dr. Dome. “Children’s National is proud to play an active role in the development of life-saving treatments for children with cancer and our clinicians look forward to another year of revolutionary developments.”

For more on this year’s SIOP, see the Children’s National press release.

Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., addresses a group of international colleagues at a reception at Children’s National.
Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., addresses a group of international colleagues at a reception at Children’s National.
Lindsay Kilburn, M.D., engages with peers from around the world at a reception at Children’s National.

1 2 3

Nationally recognized immunotherapy and pathology experts take on new leading roles at Children’s National

October 12, 2017

Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., has been chosen to serve as director of the Children’s Research Institute’s Center for Cancer and Immunology Research and Hemant Sharma, M.D., M.H.S., will assume the role of chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology.

Children’s National Health System recently made several exciting leadership announcements in the allergy, immunology and laboratory medicine fields, furthering the hospital’s ongoing commitment to providing the most comprehensive, innovative care for children.

Award-winning hematologist and immunotherapist Catherine Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., currently chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology, has been chosen to serve as director of the Children’s Research Institute’s (CRI) Center for Cancer and Immunology Research (CCIR). CCIR includes more than 50 clinicians and scientists performing groundbreaking clinical and translational research in understanding the origins of, and developing and testing novel therapies for childhood cancers and immunologic disorders. The center receives more than $10 million annually from the National Institutes of Health and other external entities. In her new role on the leadership team of CCIR, Dr. Bollard will lead the advancement and oversight of cancer and immunology research performed at Children’s National.

“All of the progress made in cellular immunotherapy here at Children’s National can be attributed to Catherine and her leadership,” says Mark L. Batshaw, M.D., chief academic officer and director of CRI. “We are confident her impact will extend even further in her new role.”

Nationally recognized laboratory medicine expert Meghan Delaney, D.O., M.P.H., has joined Children’s National as chief of pathology and lab medicine.

Hemant Sharma, M.D., M.H.S., will assume the role of chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology. In 2008, he joined the faculty at Children’s National and started the Food Allergy Program, which he directs today. His areas of interest include health disparities and community-based management of food allergy. He is also site principal investigator of novel clinical trials of immunotherapy for peanut allergy. He serves on the Medical Advisory Board of Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), and was the recipient of the 2016 FARE Vision Award for his contributions to the national food allergy community. Dr. Sharma also serves as the site director of the allergy immunology fellowship program with the National Institutes of Health and has won various teaching awards.

In addition, nationally recognized laboratory medicine expert Meghan Delaney, D.O., M.P.H., has joined Children’s National as chief of pathology and lab medicine. An expert in the field of transfusion medicine, Dr. Delaney will lead efforts to unify Anatomic Pathology and Laboratory Medicine into a single division, while advancing cutting-edge practices in the lab to ensure the highest standard of quality and safety for patients. Dr. Delaney joins Children’s National from Seattle, where she held many leadership positions including serving as medical director at the Pediatric Apheresis Program at Seattle Children’s Hospital & Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, the blood bank at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Immunohematology & Red Blood Cell Genomics Reference Laboratory at Bloodworks Northwest.

“Dr. Delaney brings extensive experience in laboratory medicine innovation and program-building, and we are confident she will make a lasting impact on our patients,” said Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., vice president for the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s National. “Her leadership will bolster our commitment to providing top quality care for our patients through advancement of lab medicine research and treatments.”

Children’s National Chief of Allergy and Immunology helps move gene therapy forward

July 21, 2017

Catherine Bollard, M.D., MBChB, Chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology, recently shared her expertise on an FDA panel that unanimously expressed its support for a pediatric cancer T-cell therapy called CTL019.

On July 12, 2017, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee unanimously expressed its support for CTL019 – a pediatric cancer T-cell therapy. If the FDA follows the advice from the 10-member Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) – which included Children’s National Health System’s Catherine Bollard, M.D., MBChB, Chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology and Director of the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy – CTL019 will become the first gene therapy to hit the market.

“Many of these children with recurrent cancer are out of other options to treat their illness,” said Dr. Bollard. “We are encouraged by these findings and the potential for this therapy to improve outcomes and quality of life.”

CTL019 is a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, comprised of genetically modified T cells that target CD19, an antigen expressed on the surface of B cells. Also known as tisagenlecleucel, the therapy targets a single type of cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia and was created by Novartis.

In clinical trials, CTL019 showed unparalleled effectiveness. Of the 68 patients who received the drug, 52 responded almost immediately, and their cancer disappeared within the first three months. Seventy-five percent of those patients remained cancer-free six months after treatment. The therapy has one main side effect: an immune reaction called cytokine release syndrome, which can be deadly, with extended spiking fevers and other symptoms.

However, because of CTL019’s high efficacy, FDA scientists asked the ODAC panel to focus on the therapy’s safety and manufacturing challenges rather than whether or not it works.

Several committee members, including Dr. Bollard, expressed apprehension about the T-cell subpopulations’ heterogeneity, which could affect safety and efficacy. Another issue for consideration by the ODAC panel was the long-term side effects of CTL019 and the possibility that the T-cell modification could go awry, causing secondary cancers in the future.

Despite these concerns, the committee concluded that the strong efficacy data and the near-term benefits of CAR-T therapy more than tipped the scales in favor of the therapy. ODAC members were also pleased with Novartis’ plan to minimize risk, which includes limiting CTL019 distribution to selected centers with CAR T-cell therapy experience, and extensive, long-term post-marketing surveillance plans.

The FDA is not required to follow the ODAC panel’s advice when making its final decision, but it often does so. A final decision by the FDA is anticipated by late September.

Read more about the story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Medpage Today and Healio.com.

17 Children’s doctors featured at SIOP

July 5, 2017

AeRang Kim, M.D., Ph.D., Catherine Bollard, M.D., MBChB, and D. Ashley Hill, M.D. are among the Children’s National experts who will be speaking at the 49th Congress of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology.

This October, thousands of pediatric oncologists, researchers, nurses, allied health professionals, patients and survivors will gather in Washington, D.C., for the 49^th Congress of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP). Chaired by Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and Chief of Oncology at Children’s National Health System, and Stephen P. Hunger, M.D., of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the meeting will feature talks by renowned experts in pediatric oncology, including 17 doctors from Children’s National.

Among these expert speakers are AeRang Kim, M.D., Ph.D., pediatric oncologist and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, who will present her latest research on new approaches to local control of sarcomas as part of the SIOP Education Day. Dr. Kim focuses on the development of novel agents and devices for pediatric cancer including pre-clinical testing of novel agents, pharmacokinetic analysis, developing innovative methods for toxicity monitoring and clinical trial design.

Also speaking is Catherine Bollard, M.D., MBChB, Chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Children’s National, Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences and Director of the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy (CETI). Dr. Bollard will present a talk as part of the SIOP-St. Baldrick’s Symposium on Cell Therapy for Viral Infections. Her translational research focuses on developing and applying novel cell therapies to improve outcomes for patients with viral infections, cancer and immunologic disorders.

And, D. Ashley Hill, M.D., Chief of the Division of Anatomic Pathology and Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, will be giving a keynote address on DICER1 mutations in pediatric cancer. Dr. Hill first reported the connection between pleuropulmonary blastoma, a rare childhood lung tumor, and mutations in DICER1, setting the stage for our understanding of microRNA processing gene mutations in the development of pediatric cancer.

Other speakers, session chairs and abstract presenters from Children’s National include:

Anne L. Angiolillo, M.D., M.Sc., Director of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Program at Children’s National Health System
Kristina K. Hardy, Ph.D., Pediatric Psychologist at Children’s National Health System
Pamela Hinds, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., Director of Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes at Children’s National Health System
Eugene Hwang, M.D., Director of the Clinical Neuro-oncology Immunotherapeutics Program at Children’s National Health System
Robert Keating, M.D., Chief of Neurosurgery at Children’s National Health System
Lindsay Kilburn, M.D., Neuro-oncologist at Children’s National Health System
Matthew Ladra, M.D., Pediatric Radiation Oncologist for the Johns Hopkins and Children’s National Pediatric Cancer Care collaborative program at Sibley Memorial Hospital
Maureen Lyon, Ph.D., Psychologist at Children’s National Health System
Holly Meany, M. D., Director of the Solid Tumor Program at Children’s National Health System
Marie Nelson, M.D., Oncologist at Children’s National Health System
Roger J. Packer, M.D., Senior Vice-President of the Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine, Director of the Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Institute and the Brain Tumor Institute at Children’s National Health System
Karun Sharma, M.D., Director of Interventional Radiology at Children’s National Health System
Carly Varela, M.D., Oncologist at Children’s National Health System

Tag Archive for: Bollard

Highlights from the Children’s National Research Institute annual report

Understanding and treating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)