Advancements in CAR T for the Treatment of Glioblastoma

Dr Christine Brown is an internationally recognized leader in CAR T cell therapy and its application to brain tumors. For glioblastoma, her research led to the first successful CAR T cell-mediated complete clinical response against a solid tumor. Her efforts to develop glioblastoma-targeted CAR T cells, improve T cell manufacturing and optimize routes of T cell delivery have led to the initiation of several first-in-human clinical trials, including clinical testing of IL13Rα2-, HER2- and CLTX-directed CAR T cells for glioblastoma. This clinical experience is revealing important insights into the optimization of CAR T cells for the treatment of brain tumors. Dr Brown’s ongoing research efforts also aim to develop strategies to limit tumor antigen escape and to overcome the suppressive tumor microenvironment, critical challenges limiting the effectiveness of CAR T cell therapy in solid tumors. As Deputy Director of the T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratories (TCTRL), Dr Brown provides scientific oversight for TCTRL translational programs, which are dedicated to accelerating the clinical testing of CAR T cell therapy. Over the past decade, she has led and built multi-disciplinary teams for CAR T cell GMP manufacturing, quality control release, patient correlative studies and regulatory protocol management.