Angela R. Omilian, PhD, MPH

Immune Variation in Breast Tumors
Dr. Omilian characterizes immune cell subsets within breast tumors and how they vary across populations of women. Using tumor samples from the Women’s Circle of Health Study (WCHS), she employed multispectral immune staining to analyze the presence, abundance, and spatial configuration of T cell subpopulations. This work has shown that the quantity and spatial location of immune cells within tumors differ between Black and White women. As immune responses are shaped not only by genetic factors but also by environmental and social contexts, Dr. Omilian’s ongoing work integrates multi-omic tumor profiling, germline genetic analysis, and survey-based assessments of social factors to develop a holistic understanding of the sources of immune variation across populations. Her current work aims to disentangle the relative influence of chronic psychosocial stress, neighborhood environmental adversity, and inherited variation on the tumor-immune microenvironment in the North-South Breast Cancer Study (NSBCS), a case-only study of women with breast cancer residing in New York and Louisiana. Ultimately, these data have the potential to identify immune vulnerabilities that could guide interventions, precision screening or treatment strategies.

Immunoediting and Tumor–Immune Coevolution
Dr. Omilian also investigates immunoediting, a process by which immune cells in the tumor microenvironment apply a selective pressure that can influence tumor evolution. Specifically, she is testing the hypothesis that stronger immune responses in some women may drive the selection of more immune-evasive tumors, contributing to changes in tumor biology and cancer outcomes. Through spatially resolved sampling and whole-exome sequencing of breast tumors, her team is mapping immune-rich and immune-poor regions within the same tumor to identify molecular signatures of immunoediting, such as neoantigen depletion and mutations in genes within antigen processing and presentation pathways.