Researcher Spotlight: Jennifer Huang, MD, PhD

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Kanti R. Rai, MD Clinical Scholar

Lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel) is a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy that can be used to treat patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). While this represents a promising option for some patients, complete response rates are low, meaning many patients will quickly require additional treatment. “My project is to improve the efficacy of liso-cel by combining it with nemtabrutinib, a non-covalent BTK inhibitor, based on prior pre-clinical and clinical studies suggesting the benefit of the combination of BTK inhibitors and CAR T-cell therapy,” explains Dr. Huang. Through this research, Dr. Huang hopes to improve the efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy and increase the number of patients who respond to treatment.

Dr. Huang completed her medical and doctoral training at Duke University in Durham, NC. She is currently a third-year hematology and oncology fellow at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and the University of Washington, where she is working towards establishing herself as an independent clinician-investigator. “I see myself as a clinical investigator who is both leading clinical trials at the intersection of lymphoma and cellular therapy and collaborating with basic science researchers to learn about the impact of our treatments on the immune profile and tumor microenvironment,” she says. “I endeavor to bring new therapeutic options to improve our treatment of lymphoma and also advance our knowledge of the mechanisms through which our treatments work.”

Looking ahead to the future, Dr. Huang is excited to help advance treatment options for patients with CLL/SLL. “It is exciting to be involved in a rapidly evolving field where the landscape of treatment has changed dramatically over the past 10-15 years,” she says. “The addition of CAR T-cell therapy is yet another exciting addition to our toolkit, but also presents new challenges. I am eager to be part of this effort to further advance the field and improve the lives of our patients.”