Our Mission
Can-ACT mission is to develop, enhance, and test novel immune cellular products for solid tumors in adult and pediatric patients as well as to advance and share scientific knowledge and data of the outcomes, mechanism of action, and predictive biomarkers for these products.
THE Can-ACT NETWORK STRUCTURE
Background
Progress in cancer-adoptive cell-based therapy (ACT) for hematologic malignancies, along with an enhanced understanding of the tumor immune microenvironment and advances in cellular and molecular technologies, has now permitted the expansion of ACT to solid cancers. ACT can be further divided into several subtypes, among them: 1) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy; 2) tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy; 3) engineered T-cell receptor (TCR)-T cell therapy; and 4) natural killer (NK) cell and dendritic cell (DC) therapies. CAR T-cell therapies are the best studied and most widely known, as several have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. However, improvements in adoptive cell therapeutic strategies are needed to effectively treat adult cancer patients with solid tumors.
The NCI has a long history of supporting the immuno-oncology research community in basic, translational, and clinical studies through grants and clinical trial networks. The NCI convened workshops in 2018 and 2020 to identify areas of need in cell-based immunotherapy for solid tumors. These meetings brought together extramural academic researchers, industry scientists, FDA representatives, and NCI staff, allowing NCI to gain insight on major challenges and future directions in the field (see published meeting summary).
Existing needs identified by the ACT community for further development of cell-based strategies for solid tumors include: improved manufacturing approaches, studies of immune cell fitness/persistence and trafficking, strategies to overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, development of novel biomarkers and imaging methods, a core laboratory to measure critical quality attributes of manufactured cell products and perform quality control (QC) testing on cell therapy-related reagents, and support for small proof-of-concept clinical trials to rapidly gain knowledge of promising new treatment approaches.
In an effort to continue to support the ACT community, the NCI has established the Immune Cell Network Core Facility (ICN Core) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR). The ICN Core has the capabilities for the production of GMP-grade cell products and vectors, and standardization of assays. The ICN Core will provide guidance for quality systems and regulatory affairs for all sites, when requested, and cell product manufacturing for multi-site clinical trials.