Publications

The MITS was established in 2019 with the fusion of the Molecular Assessments and Preclinical Studies (MAPS) Core Facility with the Human Immune Therapy Center (HITC). During these four years of existence, and even working under adverse conditions such as the COVID19 pandemic, we contributed to producing 14 scientific studies published in the Peer-reviewed Journals.

Trial to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of a melanoma helper peptide vaccine plus incomplete Freund’s adjuvant, cyclophosphamide, and polyICLC (Mel63). Slingluff CL Jr, Petroni GR, Chianese-Bullock KA, Wages NA, Olson WC, Smith KT, Haden K, Dengel LT, Dickinson A, Reed C, Gaughan EM, Grosh WW, Kaur V, Varhegyi N, Smolkin M, Galeassi NV, Deacon D, Hall EH.  J Immunother Cancer. Jan;9(1):e000934, 2021. DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2020-000934

A phase 1 study of NY-ESO-1 vaccine + anti-CTLA4 antibody Ipilimumab (IPI) in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma.Clinical Trial OncoImmunology (online). Craig L. Slingluff jr, Hassane M. Zarour, Hussein Abdul-Hassan Tawbi, John M. Kirkwood, Michael A. Postow, Philip Friedlander, Craig E. Devoe, Elizabeth M. Gaughan, Ileana S. Mauldin, Walter C. Olson jr, Kelly T. Smith, Mary J. Macri, Toni Ricciardi, Aileen Ryan, Ralph Venhaus & Jedd D. Wolchok. March 26. Volume 10, Issue 1, 2021. DOI: 10.1080/2162402X.2021.1898105

Phase I/II trial of a long peptide vaccine (LPV7) plus toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists with or without incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA) for resected high-risk melanoma. Patel SP, Petroni GR, Roszik J, Olson WC, Wages NA, Chianese-Bullock KA, Smolkin M, Varhegyi N, Gaughan E, Smith KT, Haden K, Hall EH, Gnjatic S, Hwu P, Slingluff CL.  J Immunother Cancer. Aug;9(8):e003220. 2021. DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2021-003220

Credentialing and Pharmacologically Targeting PTP4A3 Phosphatase as a Molecular Target for Ovarian Cancer. Lazo, J.S.; Sharlow, E.R.; Cornelison, R.; Hart, D.J.; Llaneza, D.C.; Mendelson, A.J.; Rastelli, E.J.; Tasker, N.R.; Landen, C.N., Jr.; Wipf, P. Biomolecules, 11, 969, 2021. DOI: 10.3390/biom11070969

Proliferating CD8+ T Cell Infiltrates Are Associated with Improved Survival in Glioblastoma. Mauldin IS, Jo J, Wages NA, Yogendran LV, Mahmutovic A, Young SJ, Lopes MB, Slingluff CL Jr, Erickson LD, Fadul CE. Cells. Dec 1;10(12):3378.  2021. DOI: 10.3390/cells10123378

Immune mechanisms orchestrate tertiary lymphoid structures in tumors via cancer-associated fibroblasts. Rodriguez AB, Peske JD, Woods AN, Leick KM, Mauldin IS, Meneveau MO, Young SJ, Lindsay RS, Melssen MM, Cyranowski S, Parriott G, Conaway MR, Fu YX, Slingluff CL Jr, Engelhard VH. Cell Rep. Jul 20;36(3):109422, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109422

Heterogeneity in tertiary lymphoid structure B-cells correlates with patient survival in metastatic melanoma. Lynch KT, Young SJ, Meneveau MO, Wages NA, Engelhard VH, Slingluff CL Jr, Mauldin IS. J Immunother Cancer. Jun;9(6):e002273, 2021. DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2020-002273

Multiplex Immunofluorescence Histology for Immune Cell Infiltrates in Melanoma-Associated Tertiary Lymphoid Structures. Mauldin IS, Mahmutovic A, Young SJ, Slingluff CL Jr. Methods Mol Biol. 2021;2265:573-587. 2021. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1205-7_40

Immunotyping and Quantification of Melanoma Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes. Max O Meneveau, Zeyad T Sahli, Kevin T Lynch, Ileana S Mauldin, Craig L Slingluff Jr. Methods Mol Biol. 2265:515-528. 2021. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1205-7_36

MHC-restricted phosphopeptide antigens: preclinical validation and first-in-humans clinical trial in participants with high-risk melanoma. Engelhard VH, Obeng RC, Cummings KL, Petroni GR, Ambakhutwala AL, Chianese-Bullock KA, Smith KT, Lulu A, Varhegyi N, Smolkin ME, Myers P, Mahoney KE, Shabanowitz J, Buettner N, Hall EH, Haden K, Cobbold M, Hunt DF, Weiss G, Gaughan E, Slingluff CL Jr. J Immunother Cancer, 2020. DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2019-000262

Whole Genome Sequencing of Spontaneously Occurring Rat Natural Killer Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia Identifies JAK1 Somatic Activating Mutation. TT Wang, J Yang, S Dighe, MW Schmachtenberg, NT Leigh, E Farber, S Onengut-Gumuscu, DJ Feith, A Ratan, TP Loughran, and TL Olson. Cancers, 12(1), 126, 2020. DOI: 10.3390/cancers12010126

Deletion of the SAPS1 subunit of protein phosphatase 6 in mice increases radiosensitivity and impairs the cellular DNA damage response. Jaroslaw Dziegielewski, Magdalena A. Bońkowska, Ewa A. Poniecka, Jinho Heo, Kangping Du, Rowena B. Crittenden, Timothy P. Bender, David L. Brautigan, James M. Larner. DNA Repair Vol 85, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2019.102737

Incomplete Freund’s adjuvant reduces arginase and enhances Th1 dominance, TLR signaling and CD40 ligand expression in the vaccine site microenvironment. Pollack KE, Meneveau MO, Melssen MM, Lynch KT, Koeppel AF, Young SJ, Turner S, Kumar P, Sol-Church K, Mauldin IS, Slingluff CL Jr. J Immunother Cancer. Apr;8(1):e000544. 2020. DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2020-000544

A Multipeptide Vaccine Plus Toll-like Receptor Agonists LPS or polyICLC in Combination with Incomplete Freund’s Adjuvant in Melanoma Patients. Marit Melssen; Gina Petroni; Kimberly Chianese-Bullock; Nolan Wages; William Grosh; Nikole Varhegyi; Mark Smolkin; Kelly Smith; Nadejda Galeassi; Donna Deacon; Elizabeth Gaughan; Craig Slingluff. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer; 2019. DOI: 10.1186/s40425-019-0625-x