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 Department of Immunology |
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E1040 Thomas E. Starzl Biomedical Science Tower Phone: 412-383-9737 Fax: 412-383-8098 |
| Faculty | ||||
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Olivera J. Finn
, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor, Chair E1044 BST (Office) E1001, E1002, E1018 BST (Lab) Pittsburgh, PA Phone: 412.648.9816 Email: ojfinn@pitt.edu Fax: 412.648.7042 Faculty Research Interests |
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| Research Interests | ||||
| The central theme of the laboratory is human tumor specific immunity: how it is generated; how it functions; how it can be manipulated. As tools we use two human tumor antigens that we discovered, MUC1 and Cyclin B1, and transgenic mouse models that express these antigens and also develop precancerous diseases and cancer. By using different formulations of vaccines based on these tumor antigens we induce immune responses in the mouse models and study the conditions under which effective immunity can be generated versus tolerance. Our work is beginning to reveal novel mechanisms of regulation of anti-tumor immunity that depend on the form of the tumor antigen and how different it is from the tolerogenic self. Some of our findings have already been applied to the design of therapeutic and prophylactic cancer vaccines that are being tested in small Phase I/II clinical trials. | ||||
| Education | ||||
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| Academic Affiliation | ||||
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| Selected Publications | ||||
| Ryan, S. O., M. S. Turner, J. Gariepy, and O. J. Finn. 2010. Tumor antigen epitopes interpreted by the immune system as self or abnormal-self differentially affect cancer vaccine responses. Cancer Res 70:5788-5796. Beatty, P. L., S. Narayanan, J. Gariepy, S. Ranganathan, and O. J. Finn. 2010. Vaccine against MUC1 antigen expressed in inflammatory bowel disease and cancer lessens colonic inflammation and prevents progression to colitis-associated colon cancer. Cancer Prev Res 3:438-446. Vella, L. A., M. Yu, S. R. Fuhrmann, M. El-Amine, D. E. Epperson, and O. J. Finn. 2009. Healthy individuals have T-cell and antibody responses to the tumor antigen cyclin B1 that when elicited in mice protect from cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:14010-14015. Vlad, A. M., S. Muller, M. Cudic, H. Paulsen, L. Otvos, Jr., F. G. Hanisch, and O. J. Finn. 2002. Complex carbohydrates are not removed during processing of glycoproteins by dendritic cells: processing of tumor antigen MUC1 glycopeptides for presentation to major histocompatibility complex class II-restricted T cells. J Exp Med 196:1435-1446. Kao, H., J. A. Marto, T. K. Hoffmann, J. Shabanowitz, S. D. Finkelstein, T. L. Whiteside, D. F. Hunt, and O. J. Finn. 2001. Identification of cyclin B1 as a shared human epithelial tumor-associated antigen recognized by T cells. J Exp Med 194:1313-1323. Complete Publication Listing |
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| Grants | ||||
| Title: T-cell immunity to epithelial tumor mucins. Agency: NIH Role: P.I. Funding Period: 1991-2013 Title: Cancer Center Support Grant Agency: NIH Role: Program Leader for Immunology Funding Period: 1999-2015 Title: Training in Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Tumor Rejection Agency: NIH Role: P.I Funding Period: 2004-2014 Title: Lung Cancer Trial Agency: V Foundation for Cancer Research Role: - Co-PI Funding Period: 2009-2013 |
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| Lab Personnel | ||||
| Research Associates John McKolanis, Ph.D Postdoctoral Associates Sandra Cascio, Ph.D. Staff Scientist Pamela Beatty, Ph.D. Research III Jia Xue Graduate Student Researchers Adam Farkas Doug Marvel Uzoma Iheagwara |
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