{"entity":{"id":"cassian-yee","kind":"person","name":"Cassian Yee","aka":["Cassian Yee, MD","C. Yee"],"tldr":"Cassian Yee is a cancer doctor and scientist in Houston who grows a patient's own cancer-recognising T cells in the laboratory and gives them back as a treatment. Cassian Yee's early trials in Seattle were among the studies that showed such cells can find and shrink melanoma.","summary":"Cassian Yee is Professor in the Departments of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Immunology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Director of the Program for T Cell-Based Therapies (ProTCT) and Director of the Solid Tumor Cell Therapy Program, and has held the Kenneth D. Muller Professorship in Melanoma Research since 2022 (MD Anderson faculty profile). Cassian Yee has co-directed MD Anderson's Adoptive Cell Therapy Platform since 2019, founded and co-directs the MD Anderson and Rice University immunotherapy consortium (since 2018), and was Scientific Director of the Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility and leader of the TIL Working Group from 2020 to 2023 and Co-Director of the Moon Shots immunotherapy platform from 2020 to 2021 (MD Anderson faculty profile).\n\nCassian Yee received an MD from the University of Manitoba in 1986, was a Medical Research Council of Canada fellow at the Ontario Cancer Institute and Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, trained in internal medicine at Stanford University Medical Center, and from 1991 trained and then worked at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where Cassian Yee was on staff until 2013 (MD Anderson faculty profile).\n\nThe work in Seattle tested T cells taken from a patient's own blood, selected for one tumour antigen and expanded in the laboratory, now called endogenous T-cell therapy. Infused CD8+ T-cell clones against MART-1 and gp100 persisted, travelled to tumours and caused regressions in patients with metastatic melanoma (PNAS 2002); one patient's MART-1 clones also destroyed normal pigment cells in the skin (Journal of Experimental Medicine 2000); and CD4+ T cells against NY-ESO-1 produced a durable remission in one patient with refractory melanoma (New England Journal of Medicine 2008). Later trials added fludarabine or cyclophosphamide conditioning and CTLA-4 blockade with ipilimumab (PLoS ONE 2009, PNAS 2012, Journal of Clinical Oncology 2016).","asOf":"2026-11-05","links":[{"label":"MD Anderson faculty profile: Cassian Yee, M.D.","url":"https://faculty.mdanderson.org/profiles/cassian_yee.html"},{"label":"ORCID 0000-0002-4429-7307","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4429-7307"}],"tags":["immunotherapy","cell-therapy","melanoma","trialist"],"related":[],"cancers":["melanoma","sarcoma","ovarian","pancreatic"],"sections":[],"technologies":["tcr-t","til-therapy"],"targets":["ctag1b","gp100"],"drugs":[],"companies":["immatics","instil-bio","obsidian-therapeutics","genomefrontier-therapeutics","t-cypher-bio","affyimmune-therapeutics","berkeley-lights","lav","prellis-biologics","adaptive-biotechnologies"],"institutions":["md-anderson","fred-hutch","stanford","princess-margaret","rice-university","nci","oicr","osu-james","cancer-research-institute","damon-runyon","burroughs-wellcome-fund","aacr","asco","sitc"],"pathways":[],"terms":["endogenous-t-cell-therapy"],"trials":["nct00002786","nct00045357","nct00045149","nct00317759","nct00101257","nct00438984","nct00553306","nct01106235","nct02210104"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-yee-ctl-clones-melanoma-pnas-2002","paper-yee-t-cell-vitiligo-jem-2000","paper-hunder-cd4-ny-eso-1-melanoma-nejm-2008","paper-wallen-fludarabine-ctl-melanoma-plos-one-2009","paper-chapuis-cd8-central-memory-melanoma-pnas-2012","paper-chapuis-il21-ctl-ipilimumab-jco-2016","paper-yee-endogenous-t-cells-immunol-rev-2014","paper-chu-pan-cancer-t-cell-atlas-nat-med-2023","paper-yee-endogenous-t-cell-therapy-cancer-j-2015"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Disclosed consultancies, as dated on the MD Anderson faculty profile (\"Consultantships\", all listed as remote): RootPath 2021 to 2023; T-Cypher Bio 2021 to 2023; GenomeFrontier Therapeutics 2020 to 2026; Instil Bio 2020 to 2021; Scribe Biosciences 2020 to 2021; Obsidian Therapeutics 2020 to 2025; AffyImmune Therapeutics 2019 to 2021; Berkeley Lights 2019 to 2020; Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) 2019 to 2021; Immatics Biotechnologies 2019 to 2024; Prellis Biologics 2019 to 2023. RootPath and Scribe Biosciences have no OnCo record because neither could be confirmed from its own site.","The profile lists Adaptive Biotechnologies among professional memberships, 2011 to present, without describing the role.","Advisory and committee roles listed on the profile: NCI Cancer Adoptive Cell Therapy (Can-ACT) Steering Committee (2024 to present); Cancer Research Institute Scientific Advisory Board (2017 to present); Ontario Institute for Cancer Research External Advisory Board (2008 to present); Ohio State University PIIO External Scientific Advisory Board (2020 to present); NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee Immunotherapy Task Force; Damon Runyon Physician-Scientist Training Award Committee (2015 to present).","Elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2009; member of the AACR, ASCO, the American Association of Immunologists and the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (now SITC). Editorial boards listed: Cancer Immunology Research, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, OncoImmunology, Cancer Research, Cancer Immunity and Journal of Translational Medicine.","Awards listed: Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in Biomedical Sciences (1995 to 2000) and Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research (2006 to 2012); Cancer Research Institute Investigator Award (2000 to 2004); Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator Award (2001 to 2006); Potu N. Rao Award for Excellence in Basic Science, MD Anderson (2021)."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"OnCo agent (Claude Opus 5.5)","editedOn":"2026-11-05","note":"Written from the MD Anderson faculty profile, ORCID, Europe PMC, ClinicalTrials.gov v2, SEC EDGAR and each organisation's own site, read on 5 November 2026."},"role":"Professor, Melanoma Medical Oncology and Immunology; Director, Program for T Cell-Based Therapies, MD Anderson Cancer Center","institutionId":"md-anderson","specialisms":["Adoptive T-cell therapy","Endogenous T-cell therapy","Melanoma","Sarcoma","Tumour antigens"],"profiles":[{"label":"MD Anderson faculty profile: Cassian Yee, M.D.","url":"https://faculty.mdanderson.org/profiles/cassian_yee.html"},{"label":"ORCID 0000-0002-4429-7307","url":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4429-7307"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Yee%20C%5BAuthor%5D%20AND%20(melanoma%20OR%20T%20cell)"}],"papers":[{"title":"Adoptive T cell therapy using antigen-specific CD8+ T cell clones for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma","journal":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences","year":2002,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.242600099","doi":"10.1073/pnas.242600099"},{"title":"Treatment of metastatic melanoma with autologous CD4+ T cells against NY-ESO-1","journal":"New England Journal of Medicine","year":2008,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa0800251","doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa0800251"},{"title":"T-Cell Therapy Using Interleukin-21-Primed Cytotoxic T-Cell Lymphocytes Combined With Cytotoxic T-Cell Lymphocyte Antigen-4 Blockade Results in Long-Term Cell Persistence and Durable Tumor Regression","journal":"Journal of Clinical Oncology","year":2016,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2015.65.5142","doi":"10.1200/JCO.2015.65.5142"},{"title":"Endogenous T-Cell Therapy: Clinical Experience","journal":"The Cancer Journal","year":2015,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1097/PPO.0000000000000158","doi":"10.1097/PPO.0000000000000158"}],"orcid":"0000-0002-4429-7307"},"route":"/people/cassian-yee/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"},{"id":"ovarian","kind":"cancer","name":"Ovarian cancer","route":"/cancers/ovarian/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"},{"id":"sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)","route":"/cancers/sarcoma/"}],"technology":[{"id":"tcr-t","kind":"technology","name":"TCR-T cell therapy","route":"/technologies/tcr-t/"},{"id":"til-therapy","kind":"technology","name":"TIL therapy","route":"/technologies/til-therapy/"}],"target":[{"id":"ctag1b","kind":"target","name":"CTAG1B","route":"/targets/ctag1b/"},{"id":"gp100","kind":"target","name":"gp100 (PMEL)","route":"/targets/gp100/"}],"company":[{"id":"adaptive-biotechnologies","kind":"company","name":"Adaptive Biotechnologies","route":"/companies/adaptive-biotechnologies/"},{"id":"affyimmune-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"AffyImmune Therapeutics","route":"/companies/affyimmune-therapeutics/"},{"id":"berkeley-lights","kind":"company","name":"Berkeley Lights","route":"/companies/berkeley-lights/"},{"id":"genomefrontier-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"GenomeFrontier Therapeutics","route":"/companies/genomefrontier-therapeutics/"},{"id":"immatics","kind":"company","name":"Immatics","route":"/companies/immatics/"},{"id":"instil-bio","kind":"company","name":"Instil Bio","route":"/companies/instil-bio/"},{"id":"lav","kind":"company","name":"LAV","route":"/companies/lav/"},{"id":"obsidian-therapeutics","kind":"company","name":"Obsidian Therapeutics","route":"/companies/obsidian-therapeutics/"},{"id":"prellis-biologics","kind":"company","name":"Prellis Biologics","route":"/companies/prellis-biologics/"},{"id":"t-cypher-bio","kind":"company","name":"T-Cypher Bio","route":"/companies/t-cypher-bio/"}],"institution":[{"id":"aacr","kind":"institution","name":"American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)","route":"/institutions/aacr/"},{"id":"asco","kind":"institution","name":"American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)","route":"/institutions/asco/"},{"id":"burroughs-wellcome-fund","kind":"institution","name":"Burroughs Wellcome Fund","route":"/institutions/burroughs-wellcome-fund/"},{"id":"cancer-research-institute","kind":"institution","name":"Cancer Research Institute","route":"/institutions/cancer-research-institute/"},{"id":"damon-runyon","kind":"institution","name":"Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation","route":"/institutions/damon-runyon/"},{"id":"fred-hutch","kind":"institution","name":"Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/fred-hutch/"},{"id":"md-anderson","kind":"institution","name":"MD Anderson Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/md-anderson/"},{"id":"nci","kind":"institution","name":"National Cancer Institute (NIH)","route":"/institutions/nci/"},{"id":"oicr","kind":"institution","name":"Ontario Institute for Cancer Research","route":"/institutions/oicr/"},{"id":"princess-margaret","kind":"institution","name":"Princess Margaret Cancer Centre","route":"/institutions/princess-margaret/"},{"id":"rice-university","kind":"institution","name":"Rice University","route":"/institutions/rice-university/"},{"id":"sitc","kind":"institution","name":"Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer","route":"/institutions/sitc/"},{"id":"stanford","kind":"institution","name":"Stanford Health Care / Stanford Cancer Institute","route":"/institutions/stanford/"},{"id":"osu-james","kind":"institution","name":"The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute","route":"/institutions/osu-james/"}],"term":[{"id":"endogenous-t-cell-therapy","kind":"term","name":"Endogenous T-cell therapy","route":"/terms/endogenous-t-cell-therapy/"}],"trial":[{"id":"nct00101257","kind":"trial","name":"Autologous CD4+ antigen-specific T-cell clones in advanced ovarian or primary peritoneal cancer (Fred Hutchinson phase 1)","route":"/trials/nct00101257/"},{"id":"nct00045357","kind":"trial","name":"Autologous CD4+ antigen-specific T-cell clones in metastatic melanoma (Fred Hutchinson phase 1)","route":"/trials/nct00045357/"},{"id":"nct02210104","kind":"trial","name":"Autologous CD4+ NY-ESO-1-specific T cells with ipilimumab in NY-ESO-1-expressing tumours (MD Anderson phase 1, withdrawn)","route":"/trials/nct02210104/"},{"id":"nct00438984","kind":"trial","name":"CD8+ antigen-specific T-cell clones after cyclophosphamide, with aldesleukin, in stage IV melanoma (Fred Hutchinson phase 1, NCI-2010-01280)","route":"/trials/nct00438984/"},{"id":"nct00553306","kind":"trial","name":"CD8+ antigen-specific T-cell clones after cyclophosphamide, with aldesleukin, in stage IV melanoma (Fred Hutchinson phase 1/2, NCI-2010-01281)","route":"/trials/nct00553306/"},{"id":"nct00045149","kind":"trial","name":"CD8+ T-cell clones against cancer-testis antigens in metastatic melanoma (Fred Hutchinson phase 1)","route":"/trials/nct00045149/"},{"id":"nct00317759","kind":"trial","name":"Fludarabine before CD8+ antigen-specific T-cell clones in stage IV melanoma (Fred Hutchinson phase 1)","route":"/trials/nct00317759/"},{"id":"nct01106235","kind":"trial","name":"IL-21-modulated CD8+ antigen-specific T cells with cyclophosphamide and aldesleukin in metastatic melanoma (Fred Hutchinson phase 1, terminated)","route":"/trials/nct01106235/"},{"id":"nct00002786","kind":"trial","name":"Tyrosinase-specific CD8+ T cells, gene-modified and unmodified, in metastatic melanoma (Fred Hutchinson phase 1/2)","route":"/trials/nct00002786/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-yee-ctl-clones-melanoma-pnas-2002","kind":"paper","name":"Adoptive T cell therapy using antigen-specific CD8+ T cell clones for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma: in vivo persistence, migration, and antitumor effect of transferred T cells","route":"/key-papers/paper-yee-ctl-clones-melanoma-pnas-2002/"},{"id":"paper-yee-endogenous-t-cell-therapy-cancer-j-2015","kind":"paper","name":"Endogenous T-Cell Therapy: Clinical Experience","route":"/key-papers/paper-yee-endogenous-t-cell-therapy-cancer-j-2015/"},{"id":"paper-wallen-fludarabine-ctl-melanoma-plos-one-2009","kind":"paper","name":"Fludarabine modulates immune response and extends in vivo survival of adoptively transferred CD8 T cells in patients with metastatic melanoma","route":"/key-papers/paper-wallen-fludarabine-ctl-melanoma-plos-one-2009/"},{"id":"paper-yee-t-cell-vitiligo-jem-2000","kind":"paper","name":"Melanocyte destruction after antigen-specific immunotherapy of melanoma: direct evidence of T cell-mediated vitiligo","route":"/key-papers/paper-yee-t-cell-vitiligo-jem-2000/"},{"id":"paper-chu-pan-cancer-t-cell-atlas-nat-med-2023","kind":"paper","name":"Pan-cancer T cell atlas links a cellular stress response state to immunotherapy resistance","route":"/key-papers/paper-chu-pan-cancer-t-cell-atlas-nat-med-2023/"},{"id":"paper-chapuis-il21-ctl-ipilimumab-jco-2016","kind":"paper","name":"T-Cell Therapy Using Interleukin-21-Primed Cytotoxic T-Cell Lymphocytes Combined With Cytotoxic T-Cell Lymphocyte Antigen-4 Blockade Results in Long-Term Cell Persistence and Durable Tumor Regression","route":"/key-papers/paper-chapuis-il21-ctl-ipilimumab-jco-2016/"},{"id":"paper-yee-endogenous-t-cells-immunol-rev-2014","kind":"paper","name":"The use of endogenous T cells for adoptive transfer","route":"/key-papers/paper-yee-endogenous-t-cells-immunol-rev-2014/"},{"id":"paper-chapuis-cd8-central-memory-melanoma-pnas-2012","kind":"paper","name":"Transferred melanoma-specific CD8+ T cells persist, mediate tumor regression, and acquire central memory phenotype","route":"/key-papers/paper-chapuis-cd8-central-memory-melanoma-pnas-2012/"},{"id":"paper-hunder-cd4-ny-eso-1-melanoma-nejm-2008","kind":"paper","name":"Treatment of metastatic melanoma with autologous CD4+ T cells against NY-ESO-1","route":"/key-papers/paper-hunder-cd4-ny-eso-1-melanoma-nejm-2008/"}]}}