- Postdoc - Duke University
- Ph.D. - Duke University
- B.A. - Brandeis University
Education & Training
Taylor JL, Kokolus KM, Basse PH, Filderman JN, Cosgrove CE, Watkins SC, Gambotto A, Lowe DB, Edwards RP, Kalinski P, Storkus WJ. Therapeutic Anti-Tumor Efficacy of DC-Based Vaccines Targeting TME-Associated Antigens Is Improved When Combined with a Chemokine-Modulating Regimen and/or Anti-PD-L1. Vaccines (Basel). 2024 Jul 15;12(7):777. doi: 10.3390/vaccines12070777. PMID: 39066414.
Wang H, Xu J, Yao J, Song X, Joy M, Nguyen J, Moran-Segura C, Bruno S, Sander C, Messina J, Mule JJ, Storkus WJ, Kirkwood JM. Differences in the pathological, transcriptomic, and prognostic implications of lymphoid structures between primary and metastatic cutaneous melanomas. Karapetyan L, Li A, Vargas De Stefano D, Abushukair HM, Al-Bzour AN, Knight A, Layding C, J Immunother Cancer. 2024 Nov 12;12(11):e009231. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2024-009231. PMID: 39537211.
Chelvanambi M, Fecek RJ, Taylor JL, Storkus WJ. STING agonist-based treatment promotes vascular normalization and tertiary lymphoid structure formation in the therapeutic melanoma microenvironment. J Immunother Cancer. 2021 Feb;9(2):e001906. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2020-001906; PMID: 33526609.
Storkus WJ, Maurer D, Lin Y, Ding F, Bose A, Lowe D, Rose A, DeMark M, Karapetyan L, Taylor JL, Chelvanambi M, Fecek RJ, Filderman JN, Looney TJ, Miller L, Linch E, Lowman GM, Kalinski P, Butterfield LH, Tarhini A, Tawbi H, Kirkwood JM. Dendritic cell vaccines targeting tumor blood vessel antigens in combination with dasatinib induce therapeutic immune responses in patients with checkpoint-refractory advanced melanoma. J Immunother Cancer. 2021 Nov;9(11):e003675. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2021-003675. PMID: 34782430.
Maurer DM, Adamik J, Santos PM, Shi J, Shurin MR, Kirkwood JM, Storkus WJ, Butterfield LH. Dysregulated NF-κB-Dependent ICOSL Expression in Human Dendritic Cell Vaccines Impairs T-cell Responses in Patients with Melanoma. Cancer Immunol Res. 2020 Dec;8(12):1554-1567. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-20-0274. Epub 2020 Oct 13. PMID: 33051240.
My laboratory’s research focuses on tumor immunobiology and the development/testing of novel immunotherapies for the effective treatment of cancer, with a near-term goal to develop innovative phase I/II clinical trials for the treatment of patients with melanoma or renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Such treatment modalities include dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines and gene therapies that elicit specific T cell responses targeting tumor cells as well as stromal cell populations within the tumor microenvironment (TME). We discovered that immune targeting of the tumor-associated vasculature occurs naturally during effective immunotherapy, and that vaccines targeting tumor blood vessel antigens (TBVA) can safely promote tumor regression, even in cases where cancer cells themselves cannot be directly recognized by protective/therapeutic CD8+ T cells. We determined that combined treatment with anti-angiogenic agents leading to a state of tumor vascular normalization promotes a proinflammatory TME that recruits vaccine-induced T cells as well as adoptively transferred anti-tumor CTL. Such therapeutic conditioning of the TME also supports the formation of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in association with slowed tumor growth or regression, with treatment extending overall survival in animal models and in a pilot phase II clinical trial (UPCI 12-048/NCT01876212) in patients with melanoma. We are currently investigating the use of IRF3 agonists (including STING agonists) delivered directly into the TME as components of in situ vaccines in the advanced disease setting with the intent to promote tumor-associated TLS neogenesis for improved local cross-priming of, and spreading in, therapeutic anti-tumor B cell and T cell repertoires.