Led by Dr. Smita K Nair, the research in the Immunology, Inflammation, and Immunotherapy Division focuses on the designing and testing of novel vaccines against cancer and viral infections using murine and human assay systems. In a pioneering study, Dr. Nair's group demonstrated that dendritic cells, pulsed with unfractionated total RNA isolated from tumor cells, stimulate tumor immunity both in murine tumor models and in vitro human assays. A large number of their pre-clinical strategies have been translated into Phase I clinical trials in cancer patients. The focus and challenge of her laboratory, both at the preclinical and clinical level, is to augment the clinical benefit associated with immunotherapy. Long-term goals include
- evaluating the combined effects of individual strategies,
- extending the clinical exploration to multiple cancers, and
- combining immunotherapy and immune modulation with targeted cytotoxic therapy (radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotoxin therapy, and oncolytic poliovirus therapy).
Visit Immunology, Inflammation, and Immunotherapy Laboratory page for more information on the current research projects.