Titles and Affiliations

Helen B. Slonaker Endowed Professor for Cancer Research
Associate Dean for Translational Health Sciences
Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecology
Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle, Washington

Research area

Identifying ways to boost the immune response in breast cancer patients to improve chemotherapy outcomes.  

Impact

Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC)—cancer that has spread beyond the breast to other organs of the body—has few treatment options and is therefore very difficult to cure. Dr. Disis and her team are addresssing this challenge by developing combination approaches utilizing immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Her studies using specialized laboratory models suggest that an immune response mounted by specific immune cells (Type I T-cells) synergizes with chemotherapy to successfully inhibit advanced breast cancer growth. Building on this result, Dr. Disis’s team has developed a vaccine called STEMVAC which is capable of recognizing mutliple breast cancer antigens. In a Phase I clinical trial, STEMVAC was shown to stimulate high levels of Type I T-cells in breast cancer patients. Dr. Disis and her team are now examining the efficacy of using the STEMVAC alone and in combination with chemotherapy. 

Progress Thus Far

In the last year, Dr. Disis and her colleagues established that weekly immunizations of STEMVAC can be effectively administered to elicit high levels of Type I T-cells. They are advancing the testing of STEMVAC  in combination with chemotherapy to define a clinic-ready treatment regimen. 

What’s next

Dr. Disis and her team will continue their studies to uncover potential biomarkers that could be used to assess the response of patients to the combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. The team will launch a Phase II clinical trial to test the use of STEMVAC in a combination strategy with immunotherapy and chemotherapy to treat patients with mTNBC who are becoming resistant to chemotherapy. 

“If not for BCRF we would not have the opportunity to rapidly translate our work from the lab into the clinic.” – Dr. Disis

Biography

Mary L. (Nora) Disis, MD, is the Athena Distinguished Professor of Breast Cancer Research, Associate Dean for Translational Health Sciences in the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at UW and a Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Her research interest is in the discovery of new molecular immunologic targets in solid tumors for the development of vaccine and cellular therapy for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. In addition, her group evaluates the use of the immune system to aid in the diagnosis of cancer and develops novel assays and approaches to quantitate and characterize human immunity. Dr. Disis holds a leadership award from the Komen for the Cure Foundation and was recently named as an American Cancer Society Clinical Professor. She is the Editor-in-Chief of JAMA Oncology.  

BCRF Investigator Since

2016

Areas of Focus