In the past decade, it has become clear that the immune system can be manipulated to induce cancer regression, durable disease stabilization, and long-term survival in a substantial fraction of cancer patients. Building on this success, members of the Immunology and Cancer (IC) Program aim to better understand the interface between the host immune system and a malignant tumor, and to use this knowledge to develop more effective immunotherapies for the treatment of a broad array of cancer types. The central themes of the Program include: 1) basic immunology relevant to the cancer context (including innate immunity, lymphocyte activation, and peripheral inflammation/tolerance regulation); 2) preclinical mouse models of anti-tumor immunity; and 3) human cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Through the pursuit of these themes, IC members have made fundamental discoveries regarding immune regulation and anti-tumor immunity, and in collaboration with clinical colleagues in the Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics (CET) Program, have leveraged many of these concepts for the development of novel immunotherapies that are now being evaluated in the clinic. The Program is co-led by Thomas Gajewski, MD PhD, Professor of Pathology and Medicine, and Peter Savage, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology. Dr. Gajewski is a physician-scientist and international leader in the field of tumor immunology and the successful implementation of cancer immunotherapy in human patients. Dr. Savage is a recognized leader in the study of regulatory T cell biology and the role of these cells in the regulation of anti-tumor immunity. There are 18 program members from seven Departments. The IC Program has recruited five new faculty since 2013, including Jason Luke, MD, Melody Swartz, PhD, Jun Huang, PhD, Seungmin Hwang, PhD, and James Labelle, MD, PhD. During the last funding period (2013-2016), program members have published 224 cancer-related articles (with 13% intraprogrammatic and 19% interprogrammatic publications). As of January 2017, Program members hold 36 grants, and are supported by $6.6M (direct costs) in NIH extramural funding, including 6 grants and $1.0M (direct costs) from the NCI. Program members are supported by an additional $2.23 M (direct costs) in non- peer-reviewed support, resulting in total support of $8.9 M (direct costs).
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