Immunotherapy Approaches to Cancer

Richard DiVenuto is a New York IT and biotech consultant with a background extending to Florida, California, and Boston, Massachusetts. One focus for Richard DiVenuto is investments in companies developing immunotherapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, which serves to redirect T cells in fighting rapidly growing leukemia and lymphoma tumors.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a half-dozen immunotherapies spanning 19 types of cancer and a pair of tissue-agnostic conditions. These navigate the immune system’s delicate process of distinguishing “self” from “non-self.” In this process, the immune system identifies and attacks “non-self” invaders without provoking an autoimmune response against the the body's own tissues. In some cases, unfortunately, the immune system may also develop tolerance to tumor cells, as it comes to sees the cancer as “self.”

Also standing in the way of immune checkpoint therapy approaches are immune-related adverse events and unpredictable response rates. One way around this, both in terms of overcoming resistance and enhancing the immune response, is combination therapy that employs multiple lines of attack.

Researchers have also gone beyond approaches that stimulate immune responses through creating cell-based immunotherapies. These possess intrinsic anti-tumor properties that include therapeutic tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and (CAR) T therapy. Modified viruses are introduced that are able to infect and destroy cells within the tumor and resolve the persistent issue of cancer cells overcoming antiviral defenses.

Downsides of Autologous CAR T Cells

An accomplished entrepreneur-advisor and innovative tactician who has worked extensively in Florida, New York, California, and Boston in Massachusetts, Richard DiVenuto serves as an advisor to two Biotechnology companies. In this role, Richard DiVenuto implements and monitors corporate stock options for the board of directors and employees. His current area of focus also includes stem cell therapies for cancers and autoimmune disorders.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells, also known as CAR T cells, are enhanced versions of T Cells with extreme capabilities to fight cancers. After the development of the first generation of these cells, additional modifications to enhance features and also mediate properly targeted response has led to the development of the second and third-generation CAR T cells. These cells have demonstrated sufficient capabilities when it comes to treating hematological malignancies that were previously thought to be incurable, which places CAR T cells in a position of significant advancement in the area of cancer immunotherapy.

Although autologous (patient's derived) T cells were the source at the initial phase of the study, this approach is costly since a special manufacturing process is often required for each patient and also significant time (weeks) is required before engineered versions of autologous T cells are ready for treatment purpose, the later which may be a serious issue in cases of acute proliferative (fast-progressing) diseases like acute leukemia.

Another problem is the fact autologous T cells may be compromised due to certain tumor-associated immunosuppression activities in some patients that render T cells dysfunctional. Other factors, such as previous lines of treatments, can also have a significant impact on T cells.

As a clever step to address the aforementioned drawbacks, "off-the-shelf" allogeneic CAR T cells are being developed and tested. Allogeneic CAR T cells are derived from healthy donors. According to the current phase of development so far, allogeneic CAR T cells have demonstrated multiple potential benefits including reduced manufacturing cost, and immediate availability.

 

Cleaning Your Boat Correctly

For more than a quarter of a century, Richard DiVenuto has worked as an investment and financial services professional. He is also a biotechnology entrepreneur who offers consulting services to companies in California, New York, Florida, and Boston, Massachusetts. In his free time, Richard DiVenuto enjoys boating.

With the hazards boats are exposed to in water, it is essential to clean a watercraft correctly. Rinse the boat's exterior fresh water after each trip, if boating in salt water. This removes invasive aquatic species, mud, dirt, and salt residue from the water the boat has gone through.

When washing the boat, use only soaps designed for such purposes. Scrub down the interior upholstery with a soapy sponge. Afterward, clean off the soap with a damp cloth, and then finish off the cleaning by drying it with another cleaning cloth.

Scrub the canvas covering the cockpit instruments with a soft brush, fresh water, and mild soap. Use non-ammonia based specialty cleaners for the polyvinyl chloride windows on the canvas.

Remove and vacuum-clean the carpets on the cockpit floor to remove debris, then pressure-wash them. Then scrub the foredeck with special cleaner and water. 

Common Nutrition Practices That Lead to a Longer and Healthier Life

New York resident Richard DiVenuto leverages nearly three decades of consulting experience as an advisor to Celularity Inc. Richard DiVenuto, who has also provided consulting services in Boston, Massachusetts, in addition to California and Florida, enjoys exercising and eating well to improve overall wellness and longevity.

Diet has been proven to play an essential role in overall health and well-being. In addition to maintaining a healthy weight, a good diet reduces the risk of conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Moreover, eating certain foods, adhering to a balanced diet, and employing certain practices can help you to live a longer and healthier life. These practices include:

- Getting at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, an amount that has been shown to lower mortality risk from all causes.

- Eating plenty of nuts and nut butters, which provide healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals, in addition to serving as a good protein source.

- Eating less meat, or at least substituting some meat for seafood. Beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, and other protein-heavy, plant-based foods are also good choices..

- Drinking plenty of water, which can maintain healthy skin, support digestion, and reduce stress on the kidneys. 

About the Project Edge Mission

The recipient of a BBA from Iona College in New York, Richard DiVenuto serves as an advisor with two biotech companies. Richard DiVenuto has helped many promising technology companies in Boston as well as across California, Florida, and New York get investors to support their projects and patented technologies. Among these companies is Edge.

Developed with the ultimate goal of empowering the Edge, Project Edge seeks to enhance existing data-network architectures by delivering across WAN operations on Edge devices features that will mimic those of local area networks. Looking at the current performance of existing data-network architectures, there have been several drawbacks with respect to data transfer operations, among which include slow delivery, high cost, cases of copy clutters, and IP risk.

Edge aims to address these problems by virtually bringing users to the data, thus, making in-place processing of data at any point in time possible. In cases where transport or replication of data is needed, Project Edge will also counter the slow-performance issues, which have become rampant among traditional data-network architectures. 

Allogeneic CAR T Cells for Addressing Hematological Malignancies

Based in New York, Richard DiVenuto is a Biotech-Technology entrepreneur with experience spanning California, Florida, and Boston, Massachusetts. A current focus for Richard DiVenuto in the biotechnology realm is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy which addresses conditions, such as leukemia and lymphoma, that were once impossible to treat.

As described in an article published in the Nature Reviews Drug Discovery journal, allogeneic CAR T cells is a readily available product that addresses hematological malignancies. This is particularly important for rapidly progressing diseases such as acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) and acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL).

This approach uses genetically dissimilar allogeneic CAR T cells which is distinct from patient-derived autologous CAR T cell approaches. That said, the targets, such as B cell lymphomas and CD19 and CD22 in ALL, are similar. The shorter persistence offered by allogeneic CAR T cells may have an advantage in cases where the target, as with CD123, is expressed by normal cells. In several cases, the limited nature of allogeneic CAR T cell persistence may make it ideal as a bridge toward definitive allogeneic SCT therapy approaches.

A systematic allogeneic CAR T cell redosing strategy can potentially be applied in eliminating persisting cells that express target antigens. Another approach is to combine CAR T cells with various specificities to eradicate potential clones. Beyond relapsed and refractory settings, the allogeneic CAR T cell strategy may be suitable at earlier disease stages, as a way of eliminating the persisting residual disease.

 

Limitations of An Autologous CAR-T Cell Therapy Approach to Cancer

An entrepreneur based in New York, Richard DiVenuto offers consulting services to biotech, nutraceutical, and technology companies in Boston, Massachusetts; California; and Florida. He is now advising a biotechnology company that is researching the use of stem cells as a cancer treatment. As a result, Richard DiVenuto has become familiar with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, which is proving effective against previously untreatable lymphoma and leukemia cancers

From an immunological perspective, with no allogeneic reaction, patient-derived engineered T cells offer the advantage of persisting in the body for a considerable period of time. As reported in the article “ ‘Off-the-shelf’ allogeneic CAR-T cells: development and challenges” published in the March 2020 issue of Cancer Cell Therapy, a major drawback is that such autologous therapies necessitate a bespoke manufacturing process in each patient after leukapheresis.

While the clinical data for such treatment is outstanding, the manufacturing process is expensive and can take about three weeks. This translates into treatment delays that are a particular issue for patients with acute leukemia and other highly proliferative diseases. Another issue is that autologous T cells may not be effective in certain patients due to T cell dysfunction, which reflects the tumor microenvironment and involves various immunosuppression mechanisms.

One potential solution explored in the paper centers on the use of “off-the-shelf” allogeneic CAR-T cells sourced from healthy donors.