A cancer vaccine, glowing tumors, lightning speed radiation: Three UPenn innovations to watch

Hundreds of cancer research proposals get pitched each year to Robert H. Vonderheide, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center.

Hundreds more ideas for improving cancer treatment, diagnosis, and even prevention are advancing at Philadelphia’s three other National Cancer Institute-designated centers — Fox Chase Cancer Center, Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, and The Wistar Institute.

» READ MORE: Penn, Jefferson, Fox Chase cancer centers join national alliance to advance research

Out of all this work, Vonderheide believes three innovations have the most promise to advance cancer care: A new kind of radiation that delivers ultra-high doses in the blink of an eye, a new imaging technique that illuminates tumors during surgery, and a vaccine for people at high risk for cancer that Vonderheide described as potentially “a game changer.”

“If there’s a word beyond breakthrough, that’s what it would be,” he said.

The Inquirer spoke with Vonderheide about some of the cancer research at Penn he thinks are worth keeping an eye on in the coming years.

Researchers are still learning the causes and risk factors for many types of cancer. But they’ve well established that people with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations are at higher risk for developing cancers of the breast, ovaries, pancreas and prostate. Being able to identify a gene mutation that can predispose patients to cancer enables researchers to explore ways to prevent cancer from developing, possibly with a vaccine.

» READ MORE: Penn researchers are studying how to prevent breast cancer recurrence, which is often fatal. Their work just got a $10 million grant.

Traditional vaccines, such as those we receive as children to prevent chicken pox, polio, or measles, create an antibody response that prevents disease from spreading. Breast cancer isn’t caused by a virus, but Penn researchers are finding that they can teach the immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign in the same way traditional vaccines prompt it to recognize and attack a virus, said Vonderheide, an oncologist who specializes in pancreatic cancer.

Researchers are already using the approach to treat blood cancer. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy genetically modifies a patient’s T cells — a type of white blood cell that fights infection — to target cancer cells. Now they are investigating whether T cells can be engineered to prevent cancers related to the BRCA gene mutations.

A team at Penn is currently enrolling healthy individuals with BRCA gene mutations, who have never been diagnosed with cancer, to test the vaccine.

TumorGlow, a Penn-trademarked imaging technology, uses an injected dye to help doctors more clearly see tumors during surgery. Patients are injected with a dye that has been engineered to attach itself to cancer cells. During surgery, doctors use infrared cameras under which the dye appears to glow. Surgeons can more clearly see where the tumor is and be more certain they’ve removed all of it.

The technology, which has been approved by the Food & Drug Administration for use in ovarian and lung cancer treatment, “represents the first time in a long time we’ve offered our surgeons a new tool,” Vonderheide said.

FLASH radiation delivers a high dose of radiation within seconds. Penn researchers are among those in the U.S. studying whether this new technique may reduce toxicity of radiation by limiting exposure to healthy tissue and organs. A Penn team received a five-year $12.3 million National Institutes of Health grant to support their work and pursue clinical trials.

» READ MORE: Penn Medicine is going all in on proton therapy, a costly treatment that is unproven for most common cancers