At Roswell Park, we’re continuously looking to the future — to new data and findings, game-changing discoveries and the best available treatment options for our patients. The funds brought in through the Ride for Roswell are dedicated toward pursuing not only innovative researchers and clinicians, but also top technology and facilities.
Renier Brentjens, MD, PhD, serves as Deputy Director, The Katherine Anne Gioia Endowed Chair in Cancer Medicine, Chair of the Department of Medicine and Professor of Oncology in the Departments of Medicine and Immunology. He joined the Roswell Park team in 2021 and is already making plans to expand what Roswell Park can do for our patients.
Looking to the future
Dr. Brentjens’ plans are centered around cellular therapies. This type of treatment is a type of immunotherapy which uses reengineered cells to help a patient’s immune system identify and attack cancer cells.
He currently has his sights on two clinical trials, which will improve CAR T-cell therapy for lymphomas and for other B-cell cancers. Those trials are in very early stages, but it takes forward thinking and thoughtful planning to bring about changes this groundbreaking.
This work would not be possible without donor support. Thanks to riders like you and the donors who support your Ride, the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation was able to promise the necessary funding for each of those two trials and an additional third trial that will focus on multiple types of solid tumor cancers such as breast and colon cancers.
“Part of the trials lies in the preparation,” Dr. Brentjens said. “You have to first build the foundation before you can build the house, and that’s what this is.”
Building the foundation
Roswell Park has done incredible work using redirected CAR T-cells in research and patient care, exploring its potential and innovating its uses. Its facilities, however, have not previously had the infrastructure to create their own CAR T-cells. Donor funding will be invested into installing the platform and equipment necessary to bring this side of the work in-house.
Setting the stage for Dr. Brentjens’ upcoming trials will not only advance these particular projects, but it will also help this whole area of investigation surge forward right here in Buffalo. This expansion will expedite research and more efficiently bring about new trials and therefore new treatment options for the patients who turn to Roswell Park for hope.
“The foundation that we lay now will help us more rapidly open the subsequent trials,” Dr. Brentjens said. “Everything that we’re doing now is to gear up our institution, our facility, to run those trials.”
Taking it to the next step
“Roswell Park donors in the WNY area — and outside the WNY area — have made it possible for me to do this work,” Dr. Brentjens said. He also credits the forward thinking of Roswell Park’s leadership and his predecessors with preparing the way for continual advancement, particularly in the realm of cellular therapies. “At best there is a handful of institutions that are equally well set to move this technology forward, which was a remarkable discovery for me when I first came.”
On the topic of moving the technology forward, it is no secret that Dr. Brentjens is laser focused on drastically expanding the number of patients and the types of cancer Roswell Park can impact through cellular therapies. Though the initial trials coming down the pipeline will improve upon options for patients with lymphoma and B-cell cancers, he is eager to advance this technology to be available to patients with solid tumors, as well.
With the passionate drive of our researchers and the sustained dedication of our donors, these advances are just around the corner. Roswell Park continues to urgently seek the next and best options for our loved ones and neighbors battling cancers of all kinds.
