Immunology

The goals of the Immunology Program are to:

• promote basic research interest in cancer immunobiology
• to encourage translational research
• to provide an environment that is conducive to extensive collaborations within and outside of the program; to recruit and retain superb basic scientists
• to facilitate interactions with clinician-scientists, and
• to serve as a training ground for clinician-scientists in oncology.

A significant portion of the research is organized around the development of preclinical and clinical programs, collaborations among the basic and clinician scientists, and intra- as well as inter-programmatic collaborations.

Program members have developed basic and translational cancer research and the highlights are:

1. The development of anti-tumor vaccine using improved HER2 peptides in a phase I trial
2. the development of a new therapeutic usage of the IKK inhibitor and hence NF-kB inhibitor in graft versus host disease
3. the development of a preclinical study to determine effective combination cancer therapy and biomarkers
4. the development of preclinical models to enhance anti-tumor immunity targeting the chemokines in cancer pathway, and
5. the development of novel viral vaccines for immunotherapy.

The Program adds value to the Center by promoting projects with a cancer immunology and translational emphases, as achieved by retreats, seed funding and mentorship.

The Program is led by Dr. Jenny Ting, a leader in molecular immunology and has 15 members. Program direct cost funding in 2003 was $7.3 million, including $1.3 in NCI research funding. In 2002, the total number of publications was 46; 7% of the publications were intraprogrammatic and 20% were interprogrammatic. Future plans for the Program include cancer vaccine, drug therapy targeting chemokine and chemokine receptors; and improvements in stem cell engraftment.