Understanding the relationships between stress and cancer
The Repasky Lab focuses on understanding how chronic stress promotes cancer growth. We’re searching for strategies to overcome its detrimental effects on response to therapies and long-term patient outcomes.
Pioneering research in thermal medicine and immunosuppression
Maintaining body temperature is an immediate, high-priority necessity, more important in nature than mounting an immune response against tumors. Using a model of thermoregulatory stress tells us so much about how the body prioritizes energy allocation.
Our data suggests chronic stress induces long-term immunosuppression to maximize energetically demanding thermoregulatory responses. Interestingly, we find that reducing energy diversion to stress pathways allows for the development of effective anti-tumor immune responses in our preclinical models. Our findings are currently being tested in clinical trials.
“We are making clinical inroads now, more than we ever have before. This is exciting work and I’m happy to say that I think the best is yet to come!”
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Department of Immunology
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Elm and Carlton Streets
Buffalo, NY 14263