“We Are Part of This Excitement:” Husband-and-Wife Cancer Researchers Come to Sylvester
Drs. Erden Atilla and Pinar Ataca Atilla join Dr. Damian Green at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center to research CAR T-cell therapy.
After living, learning, teaching and conducting research in multiple locations worldwide, Erden Atilla, M.D., and Pinar Ataca Atilla, M.D., are settling in Miami.
As research assistant professors, the medical-scientist couple has joined the immunotherapy research program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. They’ve come here to make breakthroughs in CAR T-cell therapy and lay down roots, create a home and raise their young son.
It’s been quite a ride for the Atillas. Erden was born in Samsun, a city on Turkey’s Black Sea coast. Pinar comes from Izmir, in western Turkey. They met as hematology fellows at Ankara University, began working together, became friends, fell in love and married.
The CAR T-Cell Breakthrough
When the Atillas worked on their fellowships, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy emerged. CAR T was a breakthrough.
“The first centers were all in the U.S.,” said Erden. “It was like a dream to use these patients’ own immune cells against their leukemia. We couldn’t remain indifferent to this situation.”
They immediately began to seek training opportunities. Their search brought them first to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and then to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.
“T cells are the physiological fighters of cancer,” said Erden. “We’re just trying to enforce their power” by engineering them into CAR T cells.
Today, genetically modified CAR T cells are one of the most powerful tools for fighting cancer.
CAR T-Cell Therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
After moving to Houston, the Atillas used their bone marrow transplant experience at Baylor, working with patients with treatment refractory or relapsed disease in the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy under Malcolm Brenner, M.D., Ph.D. Their research project started with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
“AML is still one of the toughest challenges in our area,” said Erden.
The Atillas are highly skilled, dedicated and terrific partners who are willing to take some risks, such as moving across the world in the pursuit of advancing science for patients.”
—Dr. Damian Green
During the COVID pandemic, the Atillas started a collaboration with University of Granada in Spain. The project involved manufacturing donor (allogeneic) CAR T-cell products for AML, “which will open the way for off-the-shelf availability of CAR T cells,” said Erden.
Thus far, CAR T-cell therapy has been more successful in treating multiple myeloma and lymphoma than AML. The Atillas are set to understand why—and to develop CAR T-cell therapy for AML. The first FDA-approved tumor target was CD19 for B cell lymphoma/leukemia. The second was B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) for multiple myeloma.
With AML, there are more challenges and unforeseen mechanisms that need to be defined.
“That’s why I call it a black hole,” Erden said. “We’re waiting for a big bang on the AML side.”
Shooting for Breakthrough Cancer Discoveries
In Miami, the Atillas work in the lab of Damian Green, M.D., chief of Sylvester’s Division of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy and assistant director of translational research.
“I started working with Dr. Green almost three years ago,” said Pinar. “I was interested in refractory disease and I was enthusiastic about learning about the relapse of these cells.”
“My goal is to build a program that allows us to work in partnership with the community to make breakthrough discoveries,” said Dr. Green. “The Atillas are highly skilled, dedicated and terrific partners who are willing to take some risks, such as moving across the world in the pursuit of advancing science for patients.”
Dr. Green came from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, where he worked with the Atillas.
“I hired the Atillas as part of my plan to develop new therapies,” he said.
According to Dr. Green, the new immunotherapy research program can accelerate the time it takes to move processes from the lab to the clinic.
“Our dream is to create the environment in the lab that facilitates rapid translation of our own discoveries to the clinic,” he said. “We’re also unique in that we bring a set of skills that will allow Sylvester to flourish by leveraging our outstanding clinicians’ skills in new ways that put us at the forefront of developing cutting-edge therapies.”
The Right Time for Miami
Erden recalls the couple’s first visit to Miami with their 5-year-old son, Eren. On the campus tour, they were excited to see new buildings being constructed.
“We are a part of this excitement,” he said.
Fittingly, outside the building housing the Atilla’s new laboratory home is a giant Banyan tree.
“These members of the Ficus family are unique because new roots constantly spring from their branches and they are always growing outward,” said Erden.
The Antillas see that kind of growth in Sylvester.
“We definitely want to be part of the growth in T-cell therapy,” Pinar said. “Our aim is to work with the physicians and the researchers at Sylvester to develop CAR T cells and new treatments.”
“And we need some roots,” added Erden.
Tags: Acute Myeloid Leukemia, cancer research, CAR T cells, Dr. Damian Green, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center