In today’s OncClub episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Branden Moriarity, PhD; and Beau Webber, PhD, about a study evaluating neoantigen-reactive CISH knockout tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy in patients with metastatic gastrointestinal cancers. Dr Moriarity is an associate professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, co-director of the Center for Genome Engineering and the Genome Engineering Shared Resource (GESR), and a member of the Center for Genome Engineering at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he is also a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics; the Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology (MICaB) PhD Graduate Program; the PhD Program in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics; the Cellular and Molecular Biology (CMB) Graduate Program, and the Masters Program in Stem Cell Biology. He is also a member of the Stem Cell Institute at the Masonic Cancer Center. Dr Webber is an associate professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, co-director of the GESR, and a member of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he is also a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics, the Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics Graduate Program, and the Masters Program in Stem Cell Biology. He is also a member of the Masonic Cancer Center.

In our exclusive interview, Drs Moriarity and Webber discussed how targeting the CISH gene using CRISPR enhances T-cell function, key safety and efficacy findings from this study in 12 patients, and future research efforts that may focus on reducing manufacturing time and cost, as well as enhancing T-cell resilience.

Check out the full OncClub subseries to see additional findings and insights from this research!