Memorial Sloan Kettering is a cancer treatment and research center in New York City. For two summers, I worked with the Cheung Lab to develop immunotherapies against Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumors (DSRCT), a rare and aggressive pediatric soft tissue sarcoma that typically grows in the abdomen. I found that T cell-engaging bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) induced cytotoxicity in vitro and cured DSRCT cell line xenografts in vivo, indicating that they're strong candidates for precision immunotherapy to treat DSRCT.
During my second summer, I found that two-step pretargeted radioimmunotherapy (2-step PRIT) using radioisotope-engaging BsAbs also killed DSRCT cell line xenografts. They outperformed standard-of-care chemotherapy, suggesting that they are safer and more effective than current DSRCT treatments. Additionally, I performed an in silico antibody engineering project where I designed biparatopic antibodies to simultaneously target two non-overlapping epitopes on cancer-associated antigens. This yielded high-specificity, high-affinity antibodies that are promising candidates for immunotherapy.
You can read more about my project using the links below: