Georgia Cancer Center and Department of Pediatrics, Augusta University, Augusta, GA
Augusta, United States
Dr. Theodore (Ted) Johnson is Professor of Pediatric Oncology and Co-director of the Pediatric Immunotherapy Program at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia and the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University. The Pediatric Immunotherapy Program (PIP) is designed specifically as a “destination” program to provide highly-specialized experimental immunotherapy treatments for children with cancer from around the country who may not have other options for continued therapy. We have developed multiple patient-friendly treatment regimens using IDO-blocking indoximod immunotherapy with various combinations of chemotherapy and/or radiation/proton therapy for children with some of the most incurable brain tumors known.
1. NLG2105 trial (NCT02502708) – first-in-children phase 1 trial of indoximod plus temozolomide and/or radiation (completed).
2. GCC1949 trial (NCT04049669) – NIH-funded phase 2 trial using indoximod plus temozolomide (ongoing) is open in Augusta, Atlanta, Boston, and soon to open in Cincinnati.
The PIP pipeline research (Dr. Munn and Dr. Johnson labs) has led to the preclinical discovery that Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) is tightly linked with IDO in tumor-associated immune cells (dendritic cells), and that targeting both BTK and IDO simultaneously using ibrutinib and indoximod allows full immune responses, including maturation and activation of dendritic cells, activation of tumor-specific T cells, and tumor regression (in preclinical models). This recent work from the PIP pipeline labs was published in the journal Immunity, Oct 12, 2021 issue, “Inhibition of the BTK-IDO-mTOR axis promotes differentiation of monocyte-lineage dendritic cells and enhances anti-tumor T cell immunity”. These advances have driven development of a new first-in-human trial for patients with advanced pediatric brain cancer:
3. GCC2020 trial (NCT05106296) – first-in-human pediatric phase 1 trial using ibrutinib with indoximod and oral chemotherapy – opened in Augusta in February 2022, and is enrolling patients.
Dr. Johnson can be reached for referrals at 706-825-0979, or by email: thjohnson@augusta.edu