Susanna Fletcher Greer: Thanks to V Foundation Donors – There’s Hope On the Horizon
Susanna Fletcher Greer, Chief Scientific Officer of The V Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“What excites you about rewiring the immune system?
Would you want this in your cancer treatment toolbox?
Let’s talk.
Thanks to V Foundation donors, there’s hope on the horizon
What if we could rewire immune cells so they never give up on fighting cancer?
T cell therapies are a game-changer for some blood cancers. But when it comes to solid tumors, like those in the lungs, pancreas, or head and neck, these therapies often hit a wall. The immune cells burn out. The cancer pushes back. And the patients are left with too few options.
Now, thanks to the V Foundation donors, there’s hope on the horizon.
The breakthrough? V Foundation grantee Dr. Adam Courtney and his team at the University of Michigan took a surprising cue from nature: a virus that hijacks immune cells, and used it to build a tiny internal “power switch” for T cells.
This switch keeps the T cells energized without needing extra medication like high-dose IL-2 (a powerful immune booster that can also cause dangerous side effects in patients).
In early lab and animal studies, these re-engineered T cells:
Stayed alive and active longer and…
- Killed more cancer cells
- Kept fighting without burning out
- Even caused some tumors to completely disappear
What’s next? This discovery is still in early stages, but the results are strong, and Dr. Courtney is moving toward the next critical step: testing in human trials. If successful, it could reshape how we treat solid tumors and give new hope to patients who currently have few effective options.
This is exactly the kind of bold, high-risk science our donors make possible. You’re not just funding research, the V Foundation you’re funding breakthroughs that could save lives.
What excites you about rewiring the immune system like this? Would you want this in your cancer treatment toolbox?
Let’s talk.
Read this very cool paper here: “An engineered viral protein activates STAT5 to prevent T cell suppression | Science Immunology” and find the Courney lab at Home | Courtney lab.”
Title: An engineered viral protein activates STAT5 to prevent T cell suppression
Authors: Yating Zheng, Zehui Gu, Claire E. Shudde, Taylor L. Piper, Xinyu Wang, Grace A. Aleck, Jiajia Zhou, Dana King, Monica K. Chanda, Lilliana Trinch, Weiping Zou, Adam H. Courtney.
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