Grant: CIHR - ICR / Cancer Research Society Partnership - Research Grants

Some lymphoma and leukemia patients are eligible to receive a type of cell based therapy called CAR T-cell therapy. This is one of the most expensive medicines in the world but it does offer cure in many cases. However, there are side effects in almost every patient that receives this therapy. The side effects are organ failure, loss of blood pressure, and lung edema (detrimental fluid buildup in the lungs). The reason for this is because the injected CAR T-cells cause inflammation throughout the body for a couple to several days. The molecules that cause this inflammation are called cytokines and they cause vessels throughout the body to become leaky. Our proposal will address this issue by evaluating a novel therapy (vasculotide) to prevent this inflammation and can be used before or at the same time as the CAR T-cell therapy.