Research Interest

Complex solid tumor malignancies, such as castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), may require combinatorial therapies to overcome their numerous genetic aberrations that contribute to drug resistance. Targeting the androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathway is the backbone of therapy for advanced prostate cancer. However, despite initial responses to the treatment, resistance often emerges. Recent clinical observations suggest that a subset of CRPC is responsive to ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4) immunotherapy, which can induce long-term responses lasting more than 3 years in approximately 20% of patients. Experimental systems and clinical studies have demonstrated that AR signaling can modulate the intratumoral and systemic immune profile. Our team believes that understanding the interaction between AR signaling and immune modulation will inform the development of efficacious therapeutic combinations.
To this end, the goals of our current laboratory and clinical investigations are as follows:

1)    Understand how targeting the androgen receptor signaling pathway influences T cell activation, differentiation, and migration to primary and metastatic tumor sites.
2)    Discover cancer neoantigens that influence tumor-specific T cell responses.
3)    Identify immunologic parameters that predict a benefit or toxicities of immunotherapies.
4)    Develop novel therapeutic combinations with agents targeting the AR pathway and CTLA-4, and other immune checkpoints.