Titles and Affiliations
Professor
Research Area
Developing engineered immune cell therapy to improve treatment effectiveness in breast cancer.
Impact
Solid tumors are difficult to treat because they’re surrounded by a protective shield that blocks therapies from working effectively. A major part of this shield is built by specialized cells called fibroblasts, which normally help repair injured tissue but are hijacked by tumors to build a dense scaffolding around the cancer. This scaffolding sends signals that fuel tumor growth and metastasis, the spread of cancer to new sites in the body and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. It also helps the tumor resist conventional therapies and hide from the immune system. Dr. Puré has developed a new type of engineered immune cell therapy, called FAP-CAR T cells, that targets these tumor-supporting fibroblasts rather than the cancer cells themselves. By clearing away the protective scaffolding, this therapy allows for immune cells and other treatments to attack the cancer more effectively. Her team has also developed an innovative delivery method using tiny, lipid-based particles that can generate these engineered immune cells directly inside the body, offering a safer, more controllable way to give the treatment.
What’s Next
In preclinical models of pancreatic and lung cancer, this strategy has been shown to slow tumor growth and spread, and to reverse resistance to chemotherapy, cancer vaccines, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies. This project will test the approach in breast cancer for the first time, while also working to define the mechanisms behind how FAP-CAR T cells fight tumors and overcome treatment resistance. The results could inform the development of next-generation therapies designed to break down the tumor’s protective barrier and enhance the effectiveness of breast cancer treatments.
Biography
Ellen Puré, PhD is the Grace Lansing Lambert Professor and former Chair of Biomedical Sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Professor of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine, and the founding Director of the Penn Vet Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Puré received her Baccalaureate degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and her doctorate from the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School. She trained as a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellow and Leukemia Society Special Fellow at the Rockefeller University where she then joined the Faculty in 1984. In 1992, Dr. Puré joined the Faculty of the Wistar Institute and was appointed Wistar Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. Dr. Puré is an Associate Director of the Cancer Research Institute and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Matrix Biology, and was a Founding Senior Editor of Cancer Immunology Research. Dr. Puré is an elected member of the European Academy for Tumor Immunology and was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2019. Dr. Puré holds several patents and was a co-founder of Capstan Therapeutics.
