Madison Reporter

Jenny Gumperz, PhD, a researcher at the UW Carbone Cancer Center, is studying how certain immune cells might improve cancer immunotherapy. Her work focuses on the relationship between invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT) and dendritic cells. According to Gumperz, these two types of immune cells form partnerships that may help other immune cells better fight cancer.

“We’ve made the observation that (these two immune cells) move around together and form a physical partnership, and when this association forms they seem to help other immune cells overcome some of the challenges they’re facing in fighting cancer cells,” Gumperz said.

To bring research like this from the laboratory to patient care, UW researchers often collaborate with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). WARF was established 100 years ago by UW–Madison to connect university discoveries with industry partners for practical applications. The foundation helps commercialize discoveries and invests in promising research ideas such as Gumperz’s project.

Gumperz has studied the body’s immune system for decades. Her research has found that while the immune system can initially respond to cancer, its effectiveness weakens over time due to several factors. Cancer cells may disguise themselves as normal, exhaust immune defenses, or disrupt signaling pathways needed for an effective response.

“With that recognition, it opened up this idea that we can get the immune system to attack cancer again,” Gumperz said.

Two common immunotherapies are checkpoint inhibitors—which prevent cancer from turning off an immune response—and CAR T-cell therapy, which modifies a patient’s own cells to target cancer more effectively. However, only about 15-20% of patients benefit from these treatments. Side effects can include dangerous inflammation due to changes in how the immune system signals.

“Our immune system is prevented from attacking good cells through these major signaling pathways, and cancers use a lot of those pathways, so if you overcome them, you can end up with very problematic and potentially lethal aspects of the immune response against healthy cells,” she said.

The approach being tested by Gumperz aims to activate targeted immunity without causing widespread inflammation. Early studies suggest pairing iNKT and dendritic cells could help overcome exhaustion in patients’ immunity and sustain longer-term responses against small clusters of new cancer before tumors develop.

Gumperz worked with Beth Fischer, director of life sciences intellectual property at WARF, to discuss how her findings could be used in patient care.

“I see a lot of really amazing research, and this was one of those meetings I came out of going, ‘Wow. This is really cutting edge, exciting stuff.’ And it wasn’t difficult for me to envision what a product could look like,” Fischer said.

WARF is securing a patent for this method and supporting further preclinical studies through its Accelerator program so that potential investors can evaluate its promise.

“This is the research that companies need to see to get excited and say, “Okay, yes, I agree with you that there is a product here and you’ve helped validate and de-risk it for us,” Fischer said.

The Accelerator program also connects scientists with industry experts who offer feedback on commercial development strategies. For now, efforts are focused on ovarian cancer—a disease where new treatment options are needed after surgery or chemotherapy fails—since survival rates remain below 50% five years after diagnosis.

“What we would like to do is use this approach during the period after initial treatment when patients often no longer have detectable cancer and try to activate their immune response to go and eliminate micro metastases and prevent relapse,” Gumperz said.

Although there may be future uses for other cancers if successful in ovarian cases first, Fischer noted that focusing on one area helps build evidence for broader applications. She added praise for Gumperz’s openness throughout their collaboration process:

“Jenny has been a great, willing partner at every step,” Fischer said.