The Institute has several labs that are investigating cancer to both
understand how this disease functions and how it can best be fought. A
deeper understanding of what causes cells to become cancerous could be
a significant aide in discovering therapies to prevent cancer. Our
research laboratories are finding more effective ways to focus the
immune system's natural attack cells, killer T cells, to create
immunotherapies and vaccinations against specific cancer types.
BREAKTHROUGHS
Tumor Suppressor
La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology researchers studying an
enzyme believed to play a role in allergy onset, instead have
discovered its previously unknown role as a tumor suppressor that may
be important in myeloproliferative diseases and some types of lymphoma
and leukemia. Myeloproliferative diseases are a group of disorders
characterized by an overproduction of blood cells by the bone marrow
and include chronic myeloid leukemia. Lymphoma and leukemia are
cancers of the blood. Toshiaki Kawakami,
M.D., Ph.D., led the research team.
RESEARCHERS AND THEIR LABS
Michael Croft, Ph.D. and his laboratory work on understanding how proteins that are expressed on
the surface of T cells affect the cell’s ability to live, to survive,
and not to undergo apoptosis, which is the process of cell death. Michael Croft, Ph.D. is focused on increasing the growth and survival
of T cells to give the body a fighting chance against cancer. “The
concept is that all diseases are controlled by T cells,” said Croft.
“My lab works on the molecules that regulate T cells – what makes them
work better or work worse.”
Don Newmeyer, Ph.D. and his laboratory are examining how mitochondria--the "energy factory"
in the cell-- play a critical role in the apoptotic cell death program.
The importance of this research is in understanding how these cells can
be turned on and off, suggesting new approaches for the treatment of
diseases that involve the inappropriate death or survival of certain
types of cells.
Stephen Schoenberger, Ph.D,
and his team are focusing their efforts on understanding the way in
which the immune system organizes an effective attack in the body.
There are two types of killer T cells that the immune system employs in
the course of its defense of the body, CD8 and CD4. Schoenberger's
laboratory has shown that it is necessary for the body to engage both
of these cells types in order to properly attack a bodily invasion and
to ensure a proper immune memory response. Immune memory is the way in
which the body "remembers" previous infections so that on future
occurrences of an illness it can mount a fast, efficient response. This
discovery could be a key to understanding why the body sometimes fails
to destroy a tumor with an immune attack.
Carl Ware, Ph.D. is working to solve the puzzle of autoimmune disease
and is internationally recognized for his work on tumor necrosis factor
(TNF). Ware's trailblazing work in the discovery of additional TNF
family members, and his illumination of their modes of action, may also
have application for righting infectious diseases and cancer.
