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Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy
Program Leaders: Kelvin Lee, MD and Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD
| Contact Person: | Charlene Corwin Scientific Administrator Tel: 716 845-3256 Fax: 716 845-1322 charlene.corwin@roswellpark.org |
The Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program, led by Kelvin Lee, MD, and Kunle Odunsi, PhD, conducts basic research in immunocytobiology and immunoregulation. Immunotherapy, including cancer vaccine development, tumor antigen discovery, cytokine gene therapy, and immunospecific targeting of drugs to tumors, is a major study focus.
The long range goal of the Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program is to test the hypotheses that i) the limited efficacy of immunotherapy of malignant diseases is caused by the escape mechanisms utilized by tumor cells to avoid immune recognition and destruction and ii) development of strategies to counteract the escape mechanisms utilized by tumor cells will improve the therapeutic efficacy of immunotherapy of malignant diseases.
Towards this end, members of the Program and their collaborators are working in three areas of specialization to address the following specific aims:
- to characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying changes in the expression of HLA antigens associated with malignant transformation of cells and to assess the clinical significance of these changes. The information derived from this set of studies is expected to contribute to the design of strategies to monitor HLA antigen changes in malignant lesions, to select patients to be treated with immunotherapy and to correct changes in HLA antigen expression;
- to characterize the interaction of tumor cells with the microenvironment and to develop approaches to destroy the blood supply to tumors. The results derived from this set of studies are expected to suggest strategies to enhance the penetration of products of the immune system in malignant lesions and to counteract the negative impact on immunotherapy of the phenotypic changes of tumor cells caused by their genetic instability; and
- to enhance the ability of active specific immunotherapy to overcome the unresponsiveness to self-tumor antigens and to induce a strong immune response to tumor associated antigens and to viral antigens that promote tumor formation. The results derived from this set of studies are expected to improve immunization strategies to enhance the immune response elicited to tumor antigens and to improve clinical responses in patients treated with immunotherapy.
Program Members
| Scott Abrams, PhD | |
| Naveen Bangia, PhD | John Pauly, PhD |
| Heinz Baumann, PhD | Elizabeth Repasky, PhD |
| James L. Clements, PhD | Brahm Segal, MD |
| Myron Czuczman, MD | Ben K. Seon, PhD |
| Sharon S. Evans, PhD | Protul Shrikant, PhD |
| Robert Fenstermaker, MD | Ashwani K. Sood, PhD |
| Danuta Kozbor, PhD | Yasmin Thanavala, PhD |
| Joseph Lau, PhD | Thomas B. Tomasi, MD, PhD |
| Kelvin Lee, MD | Paul Wallace, PhD |
| Shashikant Lele, MD | Eunice Wang, MD |
| Kunle Odunsi, MD | Michael KK Wong, MD |
