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Raffit Hassan

Raffit Hassan, M.D.

  • Center for Cancer Research
  • National Cancer Institute
Senior Investigator
Head, Thoracic and Solid Tumor Immunotherapy Section

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Dr. Hassan has played a pivotal role in validating the tumor differentiation antigen mesothelin as a target for cancer therapy and development of mesothelin targeted immunotherapy. His current research focus is on developing mesothelin directed adoptive cellular therapies including clinical trials of T cell receptor fusion constructs, gavo-cel and TC-510. Additionally, his lab has developed highly effective anti-mesothelin hYP218 CAR T cells that bind mesothelin close to the cell membrane and will enter the clinic later this year. The Hassan lab also studies the genetics of mesothelioma and is leading a prospective trial of early cancer detection in patients and their family members with germline mutations in the BAP1 cancer pre-disposition gene.

Areas of Expertise

Mesothelin
CAR-T cell therapy
BAP1

Information for Patients

Learn more about our clinical trials and the highly specialized care teams that lead them. 

Publications

Selected Key Publications

Mesothelin-targeting T cell receptor fusion construct cell therapy in refractory solid tumors: phase 1/2 trial interim results.

R. Hassan, M. Butler, R. E. O'Cearbhaill, D. Y. Oh, M. Johnson, K. Zikaras, M. Smalley, M. Ross, J. L. Tanyi, A. Ghafoor, N. N. Shah, B. Saboury, L. Cao, A. Quintás-Cardama, D. Hong
Nature Medicine. 298: 2099-2109, 2023.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Development of Highly Effective Anti-Mesothelin hYP218 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells With Increased Tumor Infiltration and Persistence for Treating Solid Tumors

Tomar S, Zhang J, Khanal M, Hong J, Venugopalan A, Jiang Q, Sengupta M, Miettinen M, Li N, Pastan I, Ho M, Hassan R.
Mol Cancer Ther.. 21(7): 1195-1206, 2022.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Enhanced efficacy of mesothelin-targeted immunotoxin LMB-100 and anti-PD-1 antibody in patients with mesothelioma and mouse tumor models

Jiang Q, Ghafoor A, Mian I, Rathkey D, Thomas A, Alewine C, Sengupta M, Ahlman MA, Zhang J, Morrow B, Steinberg SM, Pastan I, Hassan R.
Sci Transl Med. 12 (550): 2020.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Phase 1 study of the immunotoxin LMB-100 in patients with mesothelioma and other solid tumors expressing mesothelin

Hassan R, Alewine C, Mian I, Spreafico A, Siu LL, Gomez-Roca C, Delord JP, Italiano A, Lassen U, Soria JC, Bahleda R, Thomas A, Steinberg SM, Peer CJ, Figg WD, Niederfellner G, Méresse Naegelen V, Pastan I.
Cancer. 126 (22): 4936-4947, 2020.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

First-in-Human, Multicenter, Phase I Dose-Escalation and Expansion Study of Anti-Mesothelin Antibody-Drug Conjugate Anetumab Ravtansine in Advanced or Metastatic Solid Tumors

Hassan R, Blumenschein GR Jr, Moore KN, Santin AD, Kindler HL, Nemunaitis JJ, Seward SM, Thomas A, Kim SK, Rajagopalan P, Walter AO, Laurent D, Childs BH, Sarapa N, Elbi C, Bendell JC.
J Clin Oncol. 38 (16): 1824-1835, 2020.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

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Covers

Hassan et al., Nature Medicine 2023

Mesothelin-targeting T cell receptor fusion construct cell therapy in refractory solid tumors: phase 1/2 trial interim results.

Published Date

T cell therapy

In this issue, Hassan et al. show that engineered HLA-independent T cells specific for mesothelin, an antigen that is overexpressed in many cancers, exhibit toxicities as well as anti-tumor activity in patients with treatment-refractory mesothelioma or ovarian cancer. The school of omnivorous koi fish on the cover represents the T cells, which are shown attacking a solid tumor.

See Raffit Hassan et al.

Image: Erina He, NIH Medical Arts. Cover design: Marina Spence

Citation

R. Hassan, M. Butler, R. E. O'Cearbhaill, D. Y. Oh, M. Johnson, K. Zikaras, M. Smalley, M. Ross, J. L. Tanyi, A. Ghafoor, N. N. Shah, B. Saboury, L. Cao, A. Quintás-Cardama, D. Hong, Mesothelin-targeting T cell receptor fusion construct cell therapy in refractory solid tumors: phase 1/2 trial interim results. Nat Med 29, 2099-2109 (2023).

Science Translational Medicine, July 1, 2020

Enhanced efficacy of mesothelin-targeted immunotoxin LMB-100 and anti-PD-1 antibody in patients with mesothelioma and mouse tumor models

Published Date

Improving Immunotherapy: A mesothelin-targeted immunotoxin enhances the anti-tumor activity of immune checkpoint inhibitor in patients with mesothelioma and in mice.

Citation

Q. Jiang, A. Ghafoor, I. Mian, D. Rathkey, A. Thomas, C. Alewine, M. Sengupta, M. A. Ahlman, J. Zhang, B. Morrow, S. M. Steinberg, I. Pastan, R. Hassan, Enhanced efficacy of mesothelin-targeted immunotoxin LMB-100 and anti-PD-1 antibody in patients with mesothelioma and mouse tumor models. Sci Transl Med 12, (550):eaaz7252 (2020).

Clinical Cancer Research, October 1, 2019

Clinical Response of Live-Attenuated, Listeria monocytogenes Expressing Mesothelin (CRS-207) with Chemotherapy in Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Published Date

The cover shows a section of a tumor biopsy from a patient with malignant mesothelioma. Multiplex immunohistochemical staining reveals different immune cell populations infiltrating the tumor. 

Citation

R. Hassan, E. Alley, H. Kindler, S. Antonia, T. Jahan, S. Honarmand, N. Nair, C. C. Whiting, A. Enstrom, E. Lemmens, T. Tsujikawa, S. Kumar, G. Choe, A. Thomas, K. McDougall, A. L. Murphy, E. Jaffee, L. M. Coussens, D. G. Brockstedt, Clinical Response of Live-Attenuated, Listeria monocytogenes Expressing Mesothelin (CRS-207) with Chemotherapy in Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. Clin Cancer Res 25, 5787-5798 (2019).

Journal of Thoracic Oncology, March 15, 2020

Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase Gene Rearrangement in Children and Young Adults With Mesothelioma

Published Date

Peritoneal mesothelioma with ALK-STRN fusion mapping breakpoint to exon 3 of STRN and intron 19 of ALK. The resulting fusion protein contains domains for the Striatin protein and the kinase domain for ALK.

Citation

I. Mian, Z. Abdullaev, B. Morrow, R. N. Kaplan, S. Gao, M. Miettinen, D. S. Schrump, V. Zgonc, J. S. Wei, J. Khan, S. Pack, R. Hassan, Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase Gene Rearrangement in Children and Young Adults With Mesothelioma. J Thorac Oncol 15, 457-461 (2020).