| Tumor Immunology
Natural killer (NK) cells comprise a small population of peripheral blood lymphocytes that play a major role in killing tumor cells. Tumors are surrounded by an extracellular matrix barrier, which has been reported to be an obstacle for the accumulation of immune cells within tumors, and thus possibly altering the effectiveness of NK cell accumulation within advanced cancers following their adoptive transfer. Overcoming these barriers warrants the need for the examination of molecular mechanisms used by NK cells as they move from the blood vasculature into the tumor. The focus of this project is to investigate the adhesive and proteolytic aspects required by NK cells during their invasion and accumulation within tumors. Results from this research will identify novel targets and strategies to enhance the accumulation of NK cells within solid tumors during adoptive immunotherapy in cancer patients.
Telomerase and Cancer
A second ongoing project deals with the enzyme telomerase. Each time a cell divides, the ends of the chromosomes, called telomeres, get shorter. As the cell continues to divide and the chromosome ends get progressively shorter, a critical length is reach that triggers the cell to stop dividing and enter senescence. Many cancer cells express an enzyme called telomerase, which extends the length of the chromosome and allows the cells to continue growing and dividing. While the traditional role of telomerase is to extend the length of the telomere and protect actively dividing cells, particularly cancer cells, from entering cellular senescence, new data suggests novel functions of telomerase involving aspects that may control gene expression or function of other enzymes. The aim of this project involves investigation of changes in gene expression following telomerase inhibition. |
