Christian Capitini, MD
Position title: Jean R. Finley Professor in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. Professor of Pediatrics. Chief, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant
Email: ccapitini@pediatrics.wisc.edu
Phone: 608-262-2415
- Organ System/Disease Focus:
- Graft-versus-tumor effect for pediatric malignancies, Graft-versus-host-disease, Acute radiation syndrome
- Aligned Research Focus:
- Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, Mesenchymal stromal/stem cell-derived exosomes, Adoptive cell therapies (CAR T cells, NK cells and macrophages)
News Releases:
- ‘Dream Team’ recognized with AACR Team Science Award, April 2021
- Pediatric ‘Dream Team’ Members and Others Recognized with SITC’s Team Science Award, January 2021
- Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer announces officers, at-large directors, July 2020
More Information:
Research Description:
Dr. Capitini leads an NIH-supported laboratory focusing on development of cell-based therapies, including NK cells and CAR T cells, for the treatment of childhood cancers like neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma. The laboratory also manufactures alternatively activated macrophages for complications of hematopoietic stem cell transplant, like graft-versus-host-disease and acute radiation syndrome. In the clinic, Dr. Capitini was a site Principal Investigator for the first multi-center CAR T cell trial, which led to FDA approval of tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) for the treatment of recurrent/refractory B cell leukemia in children. Dr. Capitini is a Sponsor and PI for a trial testing Zoledronate after alpha beta TCR depleted haploidentical stem cell transplant. He also serves as site-PI for a multicenter GD2 CAR T cell trial and a MAGEA4 TCR T cell trial.
Selected References:
1. Zhang J, Webster S, Duffin B, Bernstein MN, Steill J, Swanson S, Forsberg MH, Bolin J, Brown ME, Majumder A, Capitini CM, Stewart R, Thomson JA, Slukvin II: Generation of anti-GD2 CAR macrophages from human pluripotent stem cells for cancer immunotherapies. Stem Cell Reports 2022 Dec 28:S2213-6711(22)00604-X. PMCID: PMC9968983
2. Hess NJ, Turicek DP, Riendeau J, McIIwain S, Guzman EC, Nadiminti K, Hudson A, Callander NS, Skala MC, Gumperz JE, Hematti P, Capitini CM: Inflammatory CD4/CD8 double positive human T cells arise from reactive CD8 T cells and are sufficient to mediate GVHD pathology. Science Advances 2023 Mar 24;9(12):eadf0567. PMCID: PMC10038349
3. Sodji QH, Forsberg MH, Cappabianca D, Kerr CP, Sarko L, Shea A, Adam DP, Eickhoff JC, Ong IM, Hernandez R, Weichert J, Bednarz BP, Saha K, Sondel PM, Capitini CM*, Morris ZS*: Comparative Study of the Effect of Radiation Delivered by Lutetium-177 or Actinium-225 on anti-GD2 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Viability and Functions. Cancers, 2023 Dec 30;16(1):191. * = co-senior authors PMCID: PMC10778389
4. Kink JA, Bellio MA, Forsberg MH, Lobo A, Thickens AS, Lewis BM, Ong IM, Khan A, Capitini CM*, Hematti P*: Large-scale bioreactor production of extracellular vesicles from mesenchymal stromal cells for treatment of acute radiation syndrome. Stem Cell Research and Therapy 2024, 2024 Mar 13;15(1):72. * co-corresponding authors PMCID: PMC10936083
5. Cappabianca D, Pham DL, Forsberg MH, Bugel M, Tommasi A, Lauer T, Vidugiriene J, Hrdlicka B, McHale A, Sodji Q, Skala M*, Capitini CM*, Saha K*: Transient metabolic priming of GD2 TRAC-CAR T cells during manufacturing promotes memory phenotypes while enhancing persistence. Molecular Therapy Methods and Clinical Development, 2024 Apr 10;32(2):101249. * = co-senior authors. PMCID: PMC11063605