Awardee OrganizationUNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Description
Abstract Text
The Program on "Regulation of Tumor Immunity" brings together investigators from the Department of
Microbiology and Immunology, the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine and
the Department of Pathology to work together on the pressing problem of bringing Immunotherapy to a point
where it can make an important contribution to patient care and treatment. The long-range goal of the
program is to find ways to treat tumors with the aid of immunotherapy in the form of anti tumor vaccines. In
order to develop successful immunotherapy it is necessary to define the parameters that allow the
generation of anti tumor immunity and allow the maintenance of anti tumor effector functions over prolonged
periods of time. Maintaining anti tumor effector responses over time necessitates our understanding of
memory formation and maintenance. One important goal of the program in several projects is the elucidation
of molecular mechanisms able to generate and maintain memory in the presence of established tumors. Anti
tumor immunity requires TH1 polarization of the immune response. To the extent that TH2 and TH1
polarization are mutually antagonistic we suggest that elimination of TH2 responses may be beneficial for
anti tumor therapy. B cells are the final effectors of TH2 polarization and we have shown that their
elimination allows increased anti tumor activity. A second goal of the program examined in several projects
therefore is the analysis of the mechanisms of anti tumor immunity in the absence of B cells. These studies
are also aimed at the discovery of molecular pathways by which B cells dampen the anti tumor TH1
response. Our own studies and those by others support the hypothesis that the activation of the innate
immune response is important for the generation of a powerful adaptive response and the generation of
memory. The third goal of the program pursued therefore is the analysis of the contribution of NK cells and
DC to anti tumor immunity. Since we have shown that heat shock proteins secreted by tumor cells activate
DC, NK and CDS CTL this mode of activation will be studied in all projects and examined with regard to
memory formation, generation of immunity in autologous bone marrow transplantation and in its effects
under conditions of B cell depletion. Finally, a heat shock protein based vaccine will be used to test the
hypothesis that non-immunogenic tumors are the best targets for vaccine-based immunotherapy. A phase I
trial for non-small cell lung carcinoma patients will examine generation of an immune response and clinical
benefit.
No Sub Projects information available for 3P01CA109094-02S1
Publications
Publications are associated with projects, but cannot be identified with any particular year of the project or fiscal year of funding. This is due to the continuous and cumulative nature of knowledge generation across the life of a project and the sometimes long and variable publishing timeline. Similarly, for multi-component projects, publications are associated with the parent core project and not with individual sub-projects.
No Publications available for 3P01CA109094-02S1
Patents
No Patents information available for 3P01CA109094-02S1
Outcomes
The Project Outcomes shown here are displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institutes of Health. NIH has not endorsed the content below.
No Outcomes available for 3P01CA109094-02S1
Clinical Studies
No Clinical Studies information available for 3P01CA109094-02S1
News and More
Related News Releases
No news release information available for 3P01CA109094-02S1
History
No Historical information available for 3P01CA109094-02S1
Similar Projects
No Similar Projects information available for 3P01CA109094-02S1