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Immunology

NIH-funded canine immunotherapy data center charts a path toward transformative therapies
happy looking golden retriever in a clinic's kennel area

Researchers have learned much from treating dogs like Fantine, a golden retriever owned by Penn Vet supporter Richard Lichter, with immunotherapies for cancer, in part because tumors in dogs can closely resemble those in humans. With new support from the National Institutes of Health, a Penn-led team is ensuring such lessons can effectively translate into new therapeutic approaches. (Image: John Donges/Penn Vet)

NIH-funded canine immunotherapy data center charts a path toward transformative therapies

With support recently granted for five more years, Nicola Mason of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Qi Long of the Perelman School of Medicine hope their work leads to new insights in cancer care for people as well as pets.

Katherine Unger Baillie

$50M gift to accelerate Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Penn Medicine
Eight people standing in front of a sign that reads The Colton Center for Autoimmunity, including E. John Wherry, Liz Magill, Larry Jameson, and Kevin Mahoney.

Jonathan Epstein, Penn Medicine’s chief scientific officer; Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives; Dean J. Larry Jameson; Penn President Liz Magill; Judy and Stewart Colton; E. John Wherry, chair of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics; and University of Pennsylvania Health System CEO Kevin Mahoney.

$50M gift to accelerate Colton Center for Autoimmunity at Penn Medicine

The center for autoimmune research brings together star faculty, powering the next generation of autoimmune disease advances.
T cells that ‘nibble’ tumors unwittingly help cancer evade the immune response
Fluorescent microscopic image of three T cells surrounding a cancer cell

Tcells surround a cancer cell to finish it off, but such interactions do not always end with the T cells victorious. Researchers from Penn detail how cancer cells can prompt T cells to ingest bits of cancer cell membrane, a process known as trogocytosis. The cancer may evade immune detection as a result. (Image: Alex Ritter, Jennifer Lippincott Schwartz and Gillian Griffiths, National Institutes of Health)

T cells that ‘nibble’ tumors unwittingly help cancer evade the immune response

Blocking this process, known as trogocytosis, improved the ability of a CAR T cell therapy to treat cancer in mice, according to research led by School of Veterinary Medicine scientists.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Monkeypox: What is known and unknown
People lined up near a sign that says NJCRI Monkeypox Vaccine Clinic

At a monkeypox vaccine clinic in Newark, New Jersey, in mid-August, people line up to receive a dose of the Jynneos vaccine. Monkeypox case counts have jumped significantly since the beginning of summer. (Image: AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Monkeypox: What is known and unknown

The current outbreak of monkeypox is showing no sign of slowing. Stuart Isaacs of the Perelman School of Medicine, an expert on poxviruses, sheds light on the disease, its prevention and treatment, and what to watch for this fall.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Cancer cells selectively load ‘drones’ to keep T cells from infiltrating tumors
four panels show a cancerous tumor with some portions labeled in red, green, and blue, and a close up image of part of it

The researchers found that levels of phosphorylated HRS varied across tumors, negatively corresponding with the level of T cell infiltration in those areas. (Image: Guo lab/Nature Communications)

Cancer cells selectively load ‘drones’ to keep T cells from infiltrating tumors

Biologist Wei Guo and colleagues elucidate the process of sorting and loading cargo for these biological drones with implications for a more targeted and effective use of checkpoint inhibitor drugs in cancer treatment.

Katherine Unger Baillie