Investigators

Summary

Our research interests are focused on the mechanisms of cross-priming of antigens during immune responses to cancer, viruses and autoimmunity. The pursuit of this research area stems from the observations that in many situations, heat shock proteins (HSPs) are both necessary and sufficient for cross-presentation. HSPs are adept at this because of several unique properties, including their ability to:

1. chaperone peptides;
2. bind to HSP receptors (CD91) for endocytosis; and
3. stimulate immune cells to up-regulate costimulation.

HSPs thus elicit remarkable immune responses specific for the peptides they chaperone. The laboratory is using these observations to examine new facets of antigen presentation and also to develop novel immunotherapies for cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune disorders.

A related area of research examines how other ligands for the HSP receptor CD91 interact with the immune system. In the past few years, we have shown that a2-macroglobulin (a2M), a CD91 ligand, though not a bonafide HSP, shares the immunogenic properties of HSPs and can elicit immune responses specific to (peptide) substrates that it chaperones. We are currently exploring the identification of naturally formed a2M-substrate complexes and the potential use of these immunogenic complexes as therapeutic agents for cancer and infectious disease.