Adham Bear, MD, On Immunotherapy Targeting Mutant KRAS

"[Mutant KRAS] is what would be considered a neo-antigen, so it's only really expressed by the tumor cells because it's derived from a DNA mutation that's acquired by the tumor cells that's not in any other cells of an individuals' body. So the thought is that targeting neo-antigens is safer and more specific than targeting other forms of tumor antigens like tumor-associated antigens or germ line antigens."

Mutations in KRAS are some of the most common found in human cancers and have thus been identified as a potentially useful target for immunotherapies.

Adham Bear, MD, instructor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, presented his work related to defining the targetable KRAS mutations at the Onco Cell Therapy Summit (OCTS) USA 2022, held June 29-30 in Boston, Massachusetts. The research involved methods such as biochemical assays and mass spectrometry based approaches and has led to the identification of immune responses able to recognize and kill tumor cells.

CGTLive spoke with Bear to learn more about mutant KRAS and his reasearch. He discussed the advantages of immunotherapies that target mutant KRAS over traditional small molecule inhibitors and the potential for adoptive cell therapy approaches.