Matija Snuderl, MD, CRI-Chordoma Foundation CLIP Investigator New York University School of Medicine Area of Research: Childhood Cancer, Sarcoma Chordomas are rare tumors arising from the clivus or sacrum. Chordomas are characterized by low mutational burden and lack of recurrent molecular drivers. Current therapies include aggressive surgery and radiation; however, adjuvant therapies are lacking and response to immunotherapy is low. Alternative immunotherapy strategies include developing tumor-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. However, nuclear cancer specific oncoproteins are accessible to the immune system through the presentation of peptides on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Chordomas arise from notochordal tissue and express genes that show low or no expression in other tissues. Dr. Snuderl’s multi-omic studies have shown that chordomas can be stratified into three major groups that vary in number of immune cells and using whole transcriptome and methylome he has identified potential chordoma-specific onco-peptides. In this proposal, Dr. Snuderl aims to explore onco-immunopeptidome and target it using synthetic chordoma-specific peptide-centric (PC) CARs, while avoiding toxicity of targeting normal tissues. Projects and Grants Developing peptide-centric CARs for therapy of chordoma New York University School of Medicine | Sarcoma | 2024
