The Ruella Lab in the Media

Penn Medicine at the 2022 ASH Meeting

OXFORD-BASED ONI COLLABORATES WITH UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Where does CAR T-cell cancer therapy stand after its FDA approval?

"After being approved by the FDA, CAR T-cell cancer therapy progresses in its treatment of pediatric patients."

Penn spinout Vittoria Biotherapeutics emerges from stealth mode with $10M seed round

"The new company hopes to overcome the current limitations of CAR T-cell therapeutics by using unique cell engineering and gene editing technologies...."

How Do Gut Microbes Affect the Success of CAR T Immunotherapy? New Answers From MSK

"In an ongoing effort to improve patients’ response to immunotherapy, MSK researchers have studied how microorganisms in the gut affect outcomes in people receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapy for some types of leukemia and lymphoma. With CAR T therapy, a patient’s own immune cells are engineered to recognize and destroy cancer..."

Penn Undergraduate Biotech Society (PUBS) Podcast

OncologyTube

eCancer

https://ecancer.org/en/video/10164-significance-of-gut-microbiota-in-patients-receiving-car-t-cell-immunotherapy

Understand the resistance mechanims of CAR T cell therapy

Presented by Dr. Yong Gu Lee

Innovative Therapies Days 2021

ASH 2021: Touch Immunology Podcast

• Marco Ruella, ASH 2021: Resistance Mechanisms to CAR-T Cells in Patients With B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (PODCAST ONE)
• Marco Ruella, ASH 2021: Resistance Mechanisms to CAR-T Cells in Patients With B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (PODCAST TWO)
• Marco Ruella, ASH 2021: Resistance Mechanisms to CAR-T Cells in Patients With B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (PODCAST THREE)

ACIR Weekly Digest: What drives glycolysis in tumors, and how to stop it

What drives glycolysis in tumors, and how to stop it

"In an effort to investigate epigenetic mechanisms that contribute to tumor immune evasion, Liu, Liang, Xu, Dong, and Dong et al. recently explored the connection between the RNA demethylase FTO, increased glycolysis in tumor cells, and reduced T cell activation in the tumor microenvironment. Further, the researchers developed and tested a potential strategy for targeting this pathway to enhance immunotherapy. Their results were recently published in Cell Metabolism..."

Penn Medicine: Less is More for the Next Generation of CAR T Cells

Less is More for the Next Generation of CAR T Cells

"Shorter 'linkers' on CARs may expand use for patients with acute leukemia"

Expert Point of View: Marco Ruella, MD

"Marco Ruella, MD, of Perelman School of Medicine and Scientific Director of the Lymphoma Program, University of Pennsylvania, commented on this study on CD58 aberrations: 'This is a very important study because it describes a possible new mechanism for relapse after CAR-T19 immunotherapy in lymphoma. Mutations or reduction in CD58 in non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells clearly correlated with outcomes in patients treated with axicabtagene ciloleucel. This was validated in preclinical models,' Dr. Ruella explained."

ASH: CRISPR-edited CAR-T cells show enhanced activation against leukemia in mice

ASH: CRISPR-edited CAR-T cells show enhanced activation against leukemia in mice

"Novartis’ CAR-T cancer therapy Kymriah, which was originally developed at the University of Pennsylvania, can induce long-term remissions in some forms of leukemia and lymphoma, but many patients either relapse or don’t respond at all. Now, Penn researchers are proposing a new method for boosting the response rate to these personalized treatments."

Health.-CAR-T cells edited by CRISPR improve the fight against blood cancers

Health.-CAR-T cells edited by CRISPR improve the fight against blood cancers

"Removing a protein known to suppress T-cell activation in CAR-T cells using CRISPR / Cas9 technology improved the ability of engineered T cells to kill cancers from the blood, according to new preclinical data from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, its authors presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology."

New Technology May Help Cells Fight against Cancer

New Technology May Help Cells Fight against Cancer

Dec. 8, 2020 Researchers in Pennsylvania say they have developed a new procedure to boost the body’s ability to fight blood cancers.

Using technology known as CRISPR, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say they have successfully blocked a gene that limits the activation of T cells, which help fight cancer.

https://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20201208/new-technology-may-help-cells-fight-against-cancer

Adoptive Cell Therapy Summit

Adoptive cell therapy entails giving T cells to patients to help their bodies fight diseases such as cancer. Since its inception, a tremendous amount of research has gone into identifying, designing, and producing more efficient T cells in greater numbers. In this virtual summit, brought to you by The Scientist and Beckman Coulter, our speakers will explore the mechanisms underlying T cell signaling and efficacy, discuss the usefulness of characterizing both cell marker and functional phenotypes when selecting T cell populations for expansion, and highlight factors that may negatively impact T cell performance, especially in aggressive or challenging cancers.

Dr. Ruella's talk begins at 55:00.

Cancer Discovery: Impaired Death Receptor Signaling in Leukemia Causes Antigen-Independent Resistance by Inducing CAR T-cell Dysfunction

Cancer Discovery

Work from Dr. Nathan Singh and Dr. Yong Gu Lee from our laboratory is featured in the cover of Cancer Discovery!

Penn Medicine News

Penn Medicine News

Penn Researchers Identify Cancer Cell Defect Driving Resistance to CAR T Cell Therapy

Study identifying mechanism that prevents cell death may guide future immunotherapy strategies

“Most theories have centered around a defect in the T cells, but what we’ve shown here is that the problem originates in an important death signaling pathway in the cancer cell itself, which prevents the T cell from doing its job." - Marco Ruella, Md

EurekAlert!

EurekAlert!

Penn researchers identify cancer cell defect driving resistance to CAR T cell therapy.

Study identifying mechanism that prevents cell death may guide future immunotherapy strategies.

Newswise

Newswise

Penn Researchers Identify Cancer Cell Defect Driving Resistance to CAR T Cell Therapy

Study identifying mechanism that prevents cell death may guide future immunotherapy strategies

ACIR Weekly Digest

ACIR Weekly Digest

"To uncover mechanisms of acquired resistance to CAR T cell therapy, Marco Ruella from the University of Pennsylvania employed an in vitro genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 inhibition screen in a B-cell ALL line targeted by CD19 CARs..." 

Correspondances en Onco-Hematologie Interview

Radio24Generazione: Una Carriera Accademica sulla East Coast

Radio24

Ninety-seventh episode of the "Generazione Mobile" broadcast of Radio 24, the first "radio passport valid for travel abroad".
In this episode:
- Federico Fabiani , founder of "Scambi Europeani", lists the latest and concrete opportunities for study, internships and work in Europe and in the EU;
- Marco Ruella , 36 year old Italian professor and researcher in the USA, as well as winner of the prestigious ISSNAF award, explains to us by thread and
by sign how to make a high level career in American universities;
- today we will give you a special study on the new rules for studying in Britain after Brexit;
–In Internet Point focus on a book that tells the new Italian families, increasingly struggling with distant children ... and costs to bear. "Transnational families of Italy that emigrates", the title: co-author Maddalena Tirabassi talks about it.

Faces of the Forward Fund: Marco Ruella, MD