The Pelotonia Institute of Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) continues to grow and develop novel new cancer treatments since it was created in 2019 with the help of a $104 million funding commitment from Pelotonia. “I think that historic moment showed the collective commitment of the [OSUCCC – James] and the entire community to make huge progress in the field of immune-oncology,” said Zihai Li, MD, PhD, founding director of the PIOO. In this episode, Li discussed the growth of the PIOO and three of the Institute’s biggest projects.
“We have recruited 32 amazing investigators from around the nation, and adding them to our existing faculty, we now have more than 100 members in the PIOO,” he said. “We have obtained $39 million in funding nationally, $22 million from the National Cancer Institute, published 1,200 scientific papers and conducted 230 immuno-oncology clinical trials and are recruiting patients now to test the next generation of immunotherapeutics [in clinical trials].” Li’s lab is conducting a groundbreaking clinical trial in which re-engineered T cells from a patient’s blood are genetically modified to better recognize, attack and kill cancer cells in glioblastomas, a form of brain tumor extremely difficult to treat. “We are making the leap from using cellular therapy for solid tumors,” Li said, adding this treatment, known as CAR T-cell therapy has been effective “in treating a variety of leukemias and multiple myeloma. Nothing has been approved for treating solid tumors and we think this is a potential way to do it … and we’re very excited by this.” The PIOO is also working on better understanding the genetic differences between men and women and how this impacts the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. “It turns out male hormones can actually suppress the immune system, the T-cell response, and, if you remove the suppressive switch will this make the T cells more effective,” Li said. A third major project of the PIOO is the development of the next generation of CAR T cell therapy. Instead of targeting one molecule on cancer cells “we’re re-engineering T cells to target three molecules,” Li said. “This has never been done by anyone else and after painstaking work, we’ve obtained approval from the FDA [for a clinical trial].” Li has ridden in Pelotonia since he was named founding director of the PIOO in 2019. “I didn’t feel like I was riding a bike,” he said of his 2024 ride. “I felt like I was doing something special, like we were all marching for a purpose and cause and a destination, which is to end cancer as we know it.”