The mission of the Cancer Immunology (CI) Program is to understand the basic biology of the immune response to cancer and to use those data to optimize immunotherapy for cancer?first in preclinical models, and subsequently through the design and execution of cutting-edge translational clinical trials. The Program, formerly led by Drew Pardoll, M.D., Ph.D., and Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D., is now led by Dr. Pardoll and Charles Drake, M.D., Ph.D., as Dr. Jaffee assumed the role of Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (SKCCC). The Program includes 21 members from seven departments within the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other peer-reviewed support of Program members totals $8.9 million total costs annually, and the Program receives an additional $26.1 million annually in nonpeer-reviewed funding. Sixteen members have peer-reviewed funding. The total number of publications by Program members is 434, of which 108 (25%) were Intra-Programmatic, 188 (43%) were Inter- Programmatic and 142 (33%) were multi-institutional collaborations. Building on basic, translational and clinical trials successes over the past five years, the Program seeks to harvest the untapped capacity of the immune system's power to provide further durable cancer remission and even cure. The Programs aims are to:
Aim 1 : Continue to unravel basic mechanisms of immune regulation and cancer immunity that will fuel the next generation of cancer immunotherapies.
Aim 2 : Utilize appropriate preclinical models to understand and optimize antitumor immunity, including identification of the most potent combinatorial approaches, such as vaccines together with checkpoint inhibitors.
Aim 3 : Initiate and complete cutting-edge clinical trials, including the incorporation of appropriate translational biomarker studies designed to guide, with precision, current and next-generation immunotherapies. In particular, the Program will build on studies over the past five years identifying ligands in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and on tumor genetics and viral association as predictors of response to checkpoint blockade.
These aims are facilitated by partnerships among laboratory-focused investigators, translational investigators in the CI Program and multiple other SKCCC Programs to jointly develop specific preclinical immunotherapy strategies and then translate them into the most suitable clinical settings. Notable advances over the past five years include 1) the preclinical testing and foundational clinical development of the first anti-PD-1 antibodies in cancer therapy, 2) development of the PD-L1 biomarker, 3) demonstration that mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd) cancers and virus-associated cancers have a very high response to anti-PD-1, 3) demonstration of patient benefit with novel prime-boost vaccine strategies in pancreas cancer, 4) development of marrow- infiltrating lymphocytes for adoptive cell therapy, 5) discovery of four novel immune checkpoint pathways, 6) development of a novel vaccine platform (STINGVAX), and 7) discovery of metabolic pathways that modulate T cell function and enhance antitumor efficacy.
| Martin, Allison M; Nirschl, Christopher J; Polanczyk, Magda J et al. (2018) PD-L1 expression in medulloblastoma: an evaluation by subgroup. Oncotarget 9:19177-19191 |
| Yeruva, Sri Lakshmi Hyndavi; Javadi, Mehrbod Som; Stearns, Vered (2018) Complete Response to Single-agent Palbociclib in Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Case Report. Clin Breast Cancer 18:e277-e280 |
| Zarif, Jelani C; Chalfin, Heather J; Pierorazio, Phillip M et al. (2018) Characterization of the Macrophage Infiltrate in a Case of Xanthogranulomatous Pyelonephritis. J Clin Urol 11:226-228 |
| Rowe, Steven P; Luber, Brandon; Makell, Monique et al. (2018) From validity to clinical utility: the influence of circulating tumor DNA on melanoma patient management in a real-world setting. Mol Oncol 12:1661-1672 |
| Chung, Liam; Thiele Orberg, Erik; Geis, Abby L et al. (2018) Bacteroides fragilis Toxin Coordinates a Pro-carcinogenic Inflammatory Cascade via Targeting of Colonic Epithelial Cells. Cell Host Microbe 23:203-214.e5 |
| LaFleur, Martin W; Muroyama, Yuki; Drake, Charles G et al. (2018) Inhibitors of the PD-1 Pathway in Tumor Therapy. J Immunol 200:375-383 |
| McDevitt, Michael R; Thorek, Daniel L J; Hashimoto, Takeshi et al. (2018) Feed-forward alpha particle radiotherapy ablates androgen receptor-addicted prostate cancer. Nat Commun 9:1629 |
| Shah, Tariq; Krishnamachary, Balaji; Wildes, Flonne et al. (2018) Molecular causes of elevated phosphoethanolamine in breast and pancreatic cancer cells. NMR Biomed 31:e3936 |
| Peprah, Sally; Curreiro, Frank C; Hayes, Jennifer H et al. (2018) A spatiotemporal analysis of invasive cervical cancer incidence in the state of Maryland between 2003 and 2012. Cancer Causes Control 29:445-453 |
| Springer, Simeon U; Chen, Chung-Hsin; Rodriguez Pena, Maria Del Carmen et al. (2018) Non-invasive detection of urothelial cancer through the analysis of driver gene mutations and aneuploidy. Elife 7: |
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