Research Program

Research programs: Enhancing the efficacy of immunotherapy

The Research Laboratory in The Center for Melanoma and Cancer Immunotherapy is actively involved in research. The research conducted by the center is aimed at improving the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

Some of the research studies being conducted currently include:

  • Development of an improved vaccine for melanoma by the addition of molecules that enhance stimulation of the immune response.
  • Improvement of Adoptive Cell Therapy for the treatment of metastatic melanoma patients.
  • Study of a novel receptor with a promising role in anti-melanoma immunotherapy.

The research projects are supported by national and international grants, and by philanthropic foundations such as the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation.

Publications (partial list)

  • Charles M. Balch, Seng-Jaw Soong, Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, et al. Prognostic Factors Analysis of 17,600 Melanoma Patients: Validation of the American Joint Committee on Cancer Melanoma Staging System, J Clin Oncol (2001); 19:3622-34.
  • Lotem M, Peretz T, Drize O, et al: Autologous cell vaccine as a postoperative adjuvant treatment for high-risk melanoma patients (AJCC stages III and IV). Br J Cancer (2002); 86:1534-9.
  • Lotem M, Machlenkin A, Hamburger T, et al. Autologous melanoma vaccine induces anti-tumor and self-reactive immune responses that affect patient survival and depend on MHC class II expression on vaccine cells. Clin Cancer Res (2009); 15:4968-77
  • Lotem M, Kadouri L, Merims S, et al. HLA-B35 correlates with a favorable outcome following adjuvant administration of an HLA-matched allogeneic melanoma vaccine. Tissue Antigens, (2011); 78:203-7.
  • Uzana R, Eisenberg G, Sagi Y, Frankenburg S, Merims S, Amariglio N, Yefenof E, Peretz T, Machlenkin A and Lotem M. Trogocytosis is a gateway to characterize functional diversity in melanoma-specific CD8+ T cell clones J Immunol, (2012); 188(2):632-40.
  • Eisenberg G, Uzana R, Pato A, Frankenburg S, Merims S, Yefenof E, Ferrone S, Peretz T, Machlenkin A, Lotem M. Imprinting of lymphocytes with melanoma antigens acquired by trogocytosis facilitates identification of tumor-reactive T cells. J
    Immunol. (2013); 190(11):5856-65.
  • Uzana R, Eisenberg G, Pato A, Frankenburg S, Merims S, Yefenof E, Peretz T, Lotem M*, Machlenkin A*. Human T cell crosstalk is induced by tumor membrane transfer. PlosOne, (2015); Feb 11;10(2):e0118244.
  • Aviad Pato, Eisenberg G, Peretz T, Machlenkin A, Frankenburg S, Margalit A, Lotem M and Gross G. Combined genetic approach for the immunotherapy of cancer. Clinical and Experimental Immunology, in press, 2015.
  • Michal Lotem, Sharon Merims, Tamar Hamburger, Stephen Frank, Aviram Nissan, Luna Kadouri, Ravid Straussman, Shoshana Frankenburg, Eitan Shiloni, Tamar Peretz, Einat Carmon, Bilal Aliyan, Shlomo Shneibaum, Ilan Ron, Ali O Gure, Hanna Steinberg, Yoav Smith. Autologous melanoma vaccine for macroscopic stages III disease: adjuvant role, predictive markers/biomarkers and effect on response to CTLA-4 blockade. Submitted, 2015.