Crystal Mackall
Crystal Mackall | |
|---|---|
| File:Mackall, crystal.jpg Mackall at the National Cancer Institute in 2002 | |
| Born | Crystal L. Mackall |
| Alma mater | University of Akron Northeast Ohio Medical University |
| Awards | National Institutes of Health Director's Award National Cancer Institute Director's Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Immunotherapy Chimeric antigen receptors Pediatric oncology T cell homeostasis[1] |
| Institutions | Stanford University National Cancer Institute National Institutes of Health |
| Website | profiles |
Crystal L. Mackall (born August 21, 1960) is an American physician and immunologist. She is currently the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Stanford University.[1][2] She is the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy.
Education and early career
[edit | edit source]Mackall grew up in East Palestine, Ohio in a working-class family; her father was a steelworker. She received her medical training through a six-year BS/MD program, earning her bachelor's degree at the University of Akron and graduated summa cum laude.[3] She completed her medical education at Northeast Ohio Medical University, earning her Doctor of Medicine in 1984. She was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honour society. Mackall completed an internal medicine and pediatrics Residency at Cleveland Clinic Akron General and Children's Hospital of Akron in 1988.[3] In 1989, Mackall joined the National Cancer Institute as a fellow in pediatric oncology, where she began to focus on immunotherapy for cancer.[4][5] She remained at National Institutes of Health until 2016, eventually serving as the Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch.[6] She moved to the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2016.[6] She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.[7][8]
Research
[edit | edit source]Mackall has pioneered cancer immunotherapies with a major focus on children's cancers. Her early research defined the effects of traditional cancer therapies on the immune system, where she identified the role of the thymus in human T cell regeneration and discovered that Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is the main regulator of T cell homeostasis in humans.[8][9] Her group was among the first to demonstrate impressive activity of CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR T cells) therapies for childhood leukemia and also developed a CAR targeting CD22 that is active in this disease and has received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the US FDA for treatment of CAR19 refractory B-ALL.[10][11] The CD22-CAR developed by Mackall's team is also active in large B cell lymphoma[12] and has received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the US FDA for this indication. Mackall co-founded CARGO Therapeutics to commercialize the CD22-CAR, now named Firi-cel, which is undergoing Phase II testing in a potentially pivotal trial for patients with large B cell lymphoma.[13]
Working with the Monje lab at Stanford, Mackall developed a GD2-CAR that showed activity in preclinical models of diffuse midline glioma, which are lethal brain tumor occurring primarily in children and young adults,[14] and her group demonstrated that intracerebroventricular delivery of CAR T cells is more potent for treatment of brain tumors in mice than intravenous delivery.[15] Mackall and Monje are leading a clinical trial of GD2-CAR for diffuse midline gliomas, given intravenously and intracerebroventricularly, that has shown clinical activity.[16][17] Based on this work, the FDA has designated the GD2-CAR therapy a Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapeutic[18] and Mackall is leading efforts to commercialize this therapy through ACCESSforKIDS, a non-profit advanced medicine biotech focused on delivering cell therapies for pediatric diseases.[19]
Mackall has elucidated fundamental biology related to T cells, with a focus on T cell exhaustion, demonstrating that cJUN overexpression prevents T cell exhaustion[20] and this work led to the launch of Lyell Immunopharma[21] which is testing this approach in clinical trials. Her group demonstrated that T cell exhaustion can be reversed by transient T cell rest[22] and demonstrated that dasatinib,[23] a commonly prescribed oral drug, could be used to rest human T cells. Mackall and Freitas discovered a role for the mediator kinase modules in regulating T cell effector differentiation and demonstrated that MED12 knockout increased the potency of human T cells in preclinical models.[24] Mackall has led clinical trials of cancer vaccines,[25][26][27] launched the first clinical trial of recombinant human interleukin-7,[28][29] led studies of immune checkpoint inhibitors in pediatric cancers[30][31] and studied a role for bone marrow transplants in pediatric solid tumors.[32][33] In 2018 Mackall was awarded $11.9 million from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to lead a clinical trial using genetically modified T cells engineered to recognize CD19 or CD22 proteins expressed on leukemia or lymphoma.[34] The trial was conducted at the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, which modified the chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) to identify B-cell prolymphocytic leukemia and B-cell lymphoma.[34][35] In 2022, Mackall was awarded $11.9 million from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to lead a clinical trial using T cells engineered to express GD2-CAR T cells for treatment of diffuse midline gliomas.[36]
Mackall holds a number of patents relating to peptides, antigen receptors and T cell fitness enhancements. She has served on the editorial boards of several cancer journals, including Cancer Today.
Awards and honors
[edit | edit source]- 2000 National Institutes of Health Distinguished Clinical Teacher Award
- 2003, 2010 National Cancer Institute Director's Award
- 2005 American Society for Clinical Investigation Member
- 2006-2018 Best Doctors in America Member
- 2012 National Institutes of Health Great Teacher Lectureship
- 2013 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Alexandra Scott Lectureship in Pediatric Oncology
- 2013 National Institutes of Health Director's Award
- 2015 National Institutes of Health G. Burroughs Mider Lectureship
- 2017 MD Anderson Cancer Center Warren Sutow Distinguished Lectureship
- 2018 Top 10 Clinical Research Award for New CAR-T Cell Therapy for Relapsed Leukemia[37]
- 2019 American Academy of Dermatology Lila and Murray Gruber Memorial Cancer Research Award[38]
- 2021 AACR-St. Baldrick's Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research[39]
- 2021 AACR Team Science Award to the St. Baldrick's-StandUp2Cancer Team[40]
- 2021 Richard V. Smalley Award and Lectureship, The Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer's "most prestigious award to a clinician/scientist and luminary in the field who has significantly contributed to the advancement of cancer immunotherapy research"[41]
- 2021 American Society for Clinical Oncology Pediatric Oncology Award and Lecture[42]
- 2022 Fellow, American Association for Cancer Research[43]
- 2022 Nobility in Science Award, Sarcoma Foundation of America[44]
- 2022 National Academy of Medicine[45]
- 2023 George Stamatoyannopoulos Award Lecture, American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy[46]
- 2023 Top 20 Most Influential Women in Biopharma, Endpoints News[47]
- 2023 Fellow of the Academy of Immunooncology, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer[48]
- 2023 Edward Netter Leadership Award, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy[49]
- 2024 Almanac of Women Leaders in Pediatric Oncology, International Society of Pediatric Oncology[50]
- 2024 R. Lois Murphy Award, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Mackall is a member of the LGBTQ+ community.[51]
References
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- American women physicians
- American cancer researchers
- Stanford University faculty
- University of Akron alumni
- 1960 births
- Living people
- American LGBTQ scientists
- American women scientists
- 21st-century American LGBTQ people
- 21st-century American women
- Members of the National Academy of Medicine
- Members of the American Society for Clinical Investigation
- Northeast Ohio Medical University alumni
- National Institutes of Health faculty