Solving the puzzle of solid tumor resistance to immunotherapy

Prasad Adusumilli is a thoracic surgeon with expertise in the management of cancers in the chest including primary (lung cancer, mesothelioma, thymoma, esophageal cancer) and metastatic tumors. His laboratory research, supported by NIH RO1 and DoD awards, focuses on tumor immunology, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell-mediated immunotherapy for cancers. Over the years, he has developed clinically-relevant solid tumor mouse models and modeled regional delivery of novel biological therapies including oncolytic viruses and immune cells in these models. This research has yielded mechanistic data that has been translated and is now in clinical trials for patients with lung cancer, mesothelioma, and breast cancer. His ongoing research focuses on combination immunotherapy to reactivate both CAR T-cell and endogenous immunity by use of cell-intrinsic and extrinsic checkpoint blockade strategies; combination of CAR T cells with antiPD1 agent is now in Phase 2 clinical trial. As Head of solid tumor cell therapy in the Cellular Therapeutics Center at the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center, he conducts and coordinates cell therapy clinical trials for solid tumor patients.

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