Our Research

Tumor Immunoproteomics

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Cancer immunotherapy recruits the immune system to eliminate tumor cells. The most successful immunotherapeutic agents are blocking antibodies to either programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), an inhibitory receptor expressed on T lymphocytes, or to its ligand, programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). Nevertheless, many patients do not respond, and additional approaches, specifically blocking other inhibitory receptors on immune cells, are being explored. The ligands for these receptors are often expressed on the surface of the tumor cells. Indeed, cancer cells express high levels of PD-L1 upon cytokines stimulation in the tumor microenvironment. The increase in PD-L1 expression serves as a negative feedback towards the immune system, and allows the tumor to evade the attack of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. To discover additional immunomodulatory ligands which are presented or secreted from cancer cells, we  use mass spectrometry, molecular biology, imaging and in vivo tumor models to characterize proteins with novel roles in tumor immunity, which can serve as drug targets in cancer immunotherapy and autoimmune diseases.

High-throughput exploration of malignant pleural effusions

 

We analyze malignant effusions, drained from the lungs of cancer patients, to detect proteins which will be used for personalized anti-cancer vaccines and tumor cells for personalized drug sensitivity assays.