Immunotherapy Milestones

City of Hope is a national leader in cancer immunotherapeutics and tumor immunology research, with an infrastructure unmatched by any other biomedical institution in the United States:
 
City of Hope is a pioneer in cancer radioimmunotherapy, a therapeutic strategy in which radiation is targeted to tumors using monoclonal antibodies. City of Hope received a National Cancer Institute grant to support trials to evaluate radioimmunotherapy of colorectal, breast and lung cancers. The quality of our research in the field of molecularly engineered antibodies is reflected by 11 years of National Cancer Institute (NCI)-supported grants.
 
City of Hope is the only institution with four FDA-authorized clinical trials using genetically reprogrammed T cells; and the first institution to use re-engineered T cell therapy for lymphoma, malignant brain tumors, and for neuroblastoma in children. Researchers were also able to prototype the zetakine chimeric receptor in human clinical trials, which arms us with a new way to target T cells to cancer cells, and expands potential targets from tens to hundreds.
 
City of Hope received a renew of its Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from the NCI to fund translational research studies that focus on lymphoma, including an emphasis on immunotherapy.
 
As one of the largest freestanding biologic production facilities in the nation, the Center for Biomedicine & Genetics, allows researchers to bypass pharmaceutical and biotech corporations to speed the development of viral vectors, DNA plasmids, and engineered and customized cellular products for phase I and II clinical trials.
 
Close collaborations with other centers add value to the advances made at City of Hope and capitalize on sharing expertise and capacity with our academic peers such as Baylor University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Mayo Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.