Raffit Hassan, M.D.

Dr. Hassan's research interest is focused on developing targeted immunotherapy, especially immunotoxins, for patients with malignant mesothelioma and other solid tumors. While working as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Ira Pastan, Dr. Hassan did pioneering preclinical work on the tumor differentiation antigen mesothelin as a target for cancer therapy and he has played a key role in bringing mesothelin-directed therapies to the clinic.

A major focus of the Hassan laboratory is developing mesothelin-targeted agents for treating cancer. These include an anti-mesothelin immunotoxin (SS1P), a chimeric monoclonal antibody to mesothelin (Amatuximab), an anti-mesothelin antibody drug conjugate (BAY 94-9343) and a mesothelin vaccine (CRS-207).

His initial pre-clinical studies and early phase clinical trials of the immunotoxin SS1P validated mesothelin as a therapeutic target for cancer therapy. His work is now focused on increasing the efficacy of SS1P in patients. The two approaches his laboratory is studying include combining SS1P with chemotherapy and decreasing the immunogenicity of immunotoxins. His group has recently shown major and durable tumor responses in patients with treatment refractory mesothelioma by combining SS1P with immunosupression. This work opens up the field of immunotoxin therapy for solid tumors and ongoing studies will elevate this approach for treatment of common cancers, including lung adenocarcinoma. In addition, Dr. Hassan and his collaborators will continue to develop less immunogenic immunotoxins for treatment of cancer.

His laboratory studies include development of mesothelioma patient-derived xenografts that mimic the molecular characteristics of patient tumors and are valuable for preclinical studies of mesothelin-directed agents. In addition, his laboratory studies the role of mesothelin in different tumors, the tumor immune environment of human meosthelioma and changes following treatment with immunotoxin therapy.