Research Directions

  1. Study the regulatory pathways of MDSC function and the associated effects on GVHD.
  2. Study the mechanism of MDSC mediated differential regulation of alloimmunity (GVHD vs. GVL) in pre-existing tumor models.
  3. Study the effects of myeloid inhibitory receptor activation through agonistic antibodies on MDSC as related to MDSC suppressive function, inhibition of GVHD, and the corresponding signaling regulation.
  4. Study the mechanism and effects of MDSC mediated regulation of GVHD vs. GVL through myeloid inhibitory receptor activation in mouse GVHD models and in a human xenograft NSG mouse model.
  5. Study whether the GVT effect in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation can be used to eradicate metastatic cancers that cannot be successfully eliminated by operation, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy.
  6. Study the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of colon cancer stemness, EMT, and chemoresistance by myeloid inhibitory receptors ectopically expressed by tumor cells.
  7. Determine the effect of myeloid inhibitory receptor antagonism on stemness and EMT phenotype of colon cancer.
  8. Assess the therapeutic efficacy of myeloid inhibitory receptor antagonism in combination with chemotherapies for the treatment of colon cancer in xenograft mouse models of human colon cancer.