IMMUNOLOGY AND IMMUNOTHERAPY

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Description: (Applicant's Description) The overall goal of the Program in Immunology and Immunotherapy is to understand the basic elements of immunity and the mechanisms by which cancer cells evade the immune system so that new intervention strategies can be developed to reduce the cancer burden. This is accomplished programmatically by fostering collaborations and encouraging a broad range of investigations into the connections between immunity and cancer. The University of Colorado Cancer Center leadership reorganized the structure of the Cancer Center in 1998 and 1999 in order to better promote translational research and collaborations, and to strengthen the cancer focus. The old Melanoma and Neuro-oncology focus groups from Adult Clinical Oncology were combined with the Immunology Program to form the new Immunology and Immunotherapy Program. As a consequence, the Program in Immunology and Immunotherapy now has 35 full members holding primary appointments in the Departments of Cell and Structural Biology, Dermatology, Immunology, Medicine, Neurology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Radiology, Radiation Oncology, and Surgery. The group includes the Chair of the Department of Immunology and three members of the National Academy of Sciences. Program members have nearly $12 million in annual direct costs from more than ninety grants. Since the last review, there has been an increase in grants from all agencies, especially the NCI, and NIH. Program members contributed 250 publications, approximately 40 percent involving collaborations with two or more Cancer Center members as authors. Program project initiatives in bone marrow transplantation, melanoma therapy, and control of cell death and differentiation were undertaken. Recruitment of new faculty with interests in human tumor immunology and immunotherapy has been initiated. The Cancer Center provided seed funding to support pilot projects that might evolve into a program project application. Clinical trials in breast, brain, and skin cancer immunotherapy are underway, and promising pre-clinical studies on lung cancer treatment have been made.