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2021 National Institutes of Health-PCF Young Investigator Award

Seeking Immunotherapeutic Synergy with Tumor-targeting Immunocytokines in Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Mohammad Atiq, MD
National Institutes of Health

Mentor: Ravi Madan, MD

Description:

  • Immunotherapy can be a very effective and even curative treatment for cancer, but has yet to be optimized for prostate cancer. New immunotherapy strategies are urgently needed.
  • M9241 is a novel IL-12-based immunotherapy developed at the NCI that can enhance anti-tumor immune activity. In early clinical studies, M9241 had an acceptable safety profile and resulted in PSA declines in prostate cancer patients.
  • Dr. Mohammad Atiq hypothesizes that M9241 and docetaxel may act in synergy and could be a potential new treatment for prostate cancer.
  • In this project, Dr. Atiq will be a lead investigator on a phase I/II clinical trial to test the safety, tolerability, and clinical efficacy of docetaxel in combination with NHS-IL12 in patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
  • Patient immune responses to the combination treatment will be evaluated.
  • Genomic analyses will be done to identify associations between genomic mutations and/or immune responses and clinical outcomes.
  • If successful, this project will result in a new treatment for prostate cancer and provide data on the biology and biomarkers for treatment efficacy.

What this means to patients: Dr. Atiq will test the safety and efficacy of a novel immunotherapy combination in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. This could lead to an effective new treatment for patients.