Immunobikers

The Immunobikers area team comprised of individuals from all levels of the BC Cancer Immunotherapy Program. Our goal is to develop safe, potent and cost-effective immunotherapies that can be deployed against a broad range of cancers.

Cancer immunotherapy is based on the concept of stimulating the patient's own immune system to recognize and destroy tumour cells. The main foot soldiers in the battle between the immune system and cancer are T cells: small, powerful white blood cells with an extraordinary ability to selectively kill cancer cells, within minutes of contact. Immunotherapies are yielding remarkable outcomes for cancer patients, making this one of the most exciting and active areas of oncology today.

Our program is focused on a type of immunotherapy called Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT). With ACT, patients are directly infused with their own T cells which have been conditioned or engineered to recognize and attack their cancer. The most successful form of ACT to date uses T cells that have been genetically engineered to recognize certain types of leukemia and lymphoma, an approach known as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. The phenomenal breakthroughs of ACT against leukemia, lymphoma and melanoma are fuelling intense interest in expanding this approach to other cancer types. Building on these successes, our team of internationally recognized Canadian researchers is creating an innovative portfolio of strategies that will take ACT to new heights, creating unprecedented treatment options for cancer patients. Ourprogram has led the first Canadian Investigator-led CAR-T trial inCanada, to bring this life-saving therapy to patients with leukemia and lymphoma.

In order to continue funding programs like ours, we humbly ask for donations to our Tour de Cure team.

For more information on our program: https://www.bccrc.ca/programs/bc-cancer-immunotherapy-program