During the recent Cap Times Ideas Fest, experts from the Department of Pediatrics were part of a panel discussion that focused on how labs and clinical trials at the University of Wisconsin are using patients’ own immune systems to attack and kill cancer cells.
Christian Capitini, MD, professor and chief, Division of Hematology, Oncology, Transplant, and Cellular Therapy, is the acting director of the Carbone Cancer Center. Rebecca Richards, MD, PhD, is assistant professor in the same division. Both care for pediatric patients with cancer and lead research studies related to immunotherapy.
Richards talked about the benefits of using immunotherapy for treating childhood cancer, specifically pediatric patients who suffer relapses from a common form of leukemia. These patients have a higher survival rate through the use of CAR-T cells.
“CAR-T cells are a way to basically reinvigorate those T cells (drawn from a patient’s immune system) and help them see the cancer that has been hiding,” Richards said.
Richards also noted that Capitini was the first researcher at UW Health to infuse a pediatric patient with leukemia with these cells in 2016.
“We’ve learned over the decades through many discoveries, including here at the University of Wisconsin, that immunotherapy in fact works in people and can translate into therapies that make a difference,” Capitini explained.
The Cap Times Idea Fest was held in Madison, Wisconsin, September 8–13. It brought together national thought leaders and local experts for public lectures and discussions on topics related to government, business, science, and culture.
A video recording of the Cap Times Idea Fest session “From breakthrough to cure: Immunotherapy at UW Health,” held on September 10, is available on YouTube. “How Madison doctors are using cancer patients’ own bodies to cure them” was published in Cap Times online on September 13, 2025.