Most cancer research over the past decade has been almost exclusively devoted to T cell therapies. To date, the best the NIH (National Institutes of Health) and NCI (National Cancer Institute) researchers have been able to achieve is an approximate 5 - 10 % cure rate using adoptive T cell therapies and only for melanoma and renal cancer. For the majority of other solid tumors, these therapies have no real effect.

Drs. Braciak and Raja Gabaglia's research focuses on the fact that in the majority of human cancers, cancer cells mutate and lose their expression of major histocompatibility class I molecules ("MHC class I"). The expression of this molecule is absolutely essential for targeting T cells to cancer cells and is the basis of action for the T cell therapies that have been developed. Their research focuses on using innate immune cells which can target cancers that have lost class I expression. In addition, they will test alloreactive immune response in tumor therapy. The immune system has evolved to specifically discriminate between self and non-self. If targeted, this hardwired alloreactive component of the immune response might be utilized to effect more prolific tumor killing.

Dr. Kumar's lab is trying to understand how Natural Killer T cells ("NK T") are able to influence immune response against tumors. Type I and type II NK T cells have opposing effect on ability of immune system to eradicate tumors and testing has been done in different kinds of tumors, thus having general implications for all types of cancers. These studies will also lead to the understanding about the influence of NK T cells on the ability of NK cells to kill tumors. This research positions TPIMS to design better immunotherapy for tumor therapy.

Dr. Levin's work relates to all cancers but he has a particular interest in malignant glioma, a brain tumor. His lab is developing a cancer treatment drug and has already established a substantial amount of work showing that it is effective against several different cancers. Dr. Levin's academic work involves studying the mechanism by which this drug works and using more sophisticated models to mimic the human disease. This is a drug that works differently than any other on the market or in development. Therefore, Dr. Levin views it as providing a novel and essentially ignored approach to treating cancers. He believes its potential lies in its use in conjunction with other treatments more than a stand alone drug.

Breast Cancer

Alan Kleinfeld and his lab have been investigating how free fatty acids (FFA) prevent the immune system from killing tumor cells.

Learn More >> Prostate Cancer

Dr. Braciak has been testing combinatory therapies designed to alter the tumor microenvironment as well as elicit T and/or NK cell responses to affect the treatment of prostate cancer.

Learn More >> Leukemia and Lymphomas

Dr. Koka, in collaboration with Dr. Dudouet, is researching if the gene therapy approaches that address cytopenias (loss of blood cell formation) in HIV-1 infection can inadvertently cause any type of cancer or malignancy, including leukemia.

Learn More >> Melanoma

Please contact Dr. Hugli.

Learn More >> Vaccine Development

Despite numerous attempts and clinical trials, cancer vaccines in humans have not proven to be effective. The reason for this is a simple one: humans do not react immunologically to their own body proteins, and most tumor proteins -- these would be the key components of a cancer vaccine -- are normal body proteins produced in abnormal amounts. In short, they are ineffective because they do not provoke strong immune responses.

Learn More >> Wasting Syndrome (Cachexia)

Cachexia is the dramatic weight loss seen in patients with chronic illness including type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, HIV, cancer, and in ageing individuals with failure to thrive syndrome.

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