Overview
The focus of our lab is to develop and test new immune based approaches to treat cancer. Treatments that harness the immune system to fight cancer are revolutionizing the care of adult and pediatric cancer patients. The Dhodapkar lab is particularly interested in a type of immune therapy known as immune checkpoint blockade. We were involved in some of earliest studies applying such therapy in cancer and we are currently trying to understand how these therapies work. For example, why do some patients respond and others do not, and what are the mechanisms underlying adverse effects following these therapies? We use several high-content techniques, including novel single cell technologies to directly study patients receiving these therapies. The goals of our studies are to improve our current therapies by increasing responses and decreasing adverse effects.
In addition, we are also actively involved in studying the nature of naturally occurring immune responses in children with cancer and particularly how the immune system can alter the biology of these tumors. These studies are also expected to lead to discovery of new targets to manipulate the immune system in patients and harness the immune system to treat cancer in children. Immune-based strategies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells are already showing promise for therapy of some childhood cancers. However, improved understanding of the biology of immune response will be essential to improving these therapies towards more durable responses.
Areas of Interest:
- Immuno-oncology
- Cell therapy