Albelda Lab

Research

 

 

 

 

 

 

Immuno-gene Therapy for Thoracic Malignancies

Lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies are the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States today. Dr. Albelda and the Thoracic Oncology Research laboratory focuses on the design of new treatment strategies for lung cancer and mesothelioma based on the rapidly evolving disciplines of molecular biology, immunotherapy, and gene therapy. Multiple tumor models are in place, including both mouse and human tumors. There is an emphasis on analyzing fresh human tumor specimens.

One area of research is the tumor microenvironment. Studies are underway with the goals of 1) a better understanding of the biology of the tumor microenvironment with a focus on the immunosuppressive activities of white blood cells and fibroblasts, 2) novel approaches to alter the tumor microenvironment to enhance immunotherapy including studying effects using COX-2 inhibitors, TGFbeta inhibitors, T-regulatory cell inhibitors, antibodies against B-cells, and chemotherapeutic drugs.

A second area of interest in the lab is the use of adoptive T cell transfer to treat lung malignancies. Studies are underway to modify T cells in order to make them traffic more efficiently into tumors, to have better killing function, and to resist inactivation by the tumor microenvironment. T cells targeting cancer-associated fibroblasts are being developed.

In addition, Dr. Albelda is closely involved with a number of immunogene clinical trials at Penn using an adenovirus expressing an immune activator and T cells altered to attack the mesothelioma tumor target, mesothelin (in collaboration with Drs. Carl Juen and Andrew Haas).