Advances in immunotherapy over the past decade have dramatically changed the treatment and prognosis of some types of cancer. Many patients with once untreatable, advanced disease now have the real possibility of a cure through therapies that successfully turn the body's immune system against cancer cells. But while immunotherapy can be remarkably effective for some patients against certain types of cancers, its promise hasn't extended to all types. Many, including pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers, remain intrinsically invisible to the human immune system.
Since 2006, the Cho Lab, led by Dr. Clifford S. Cho, has worked to understand — and overcome — the mechanisms by which cancer cells circumvent the immune system and to develop new ways to broaden and strengthen cancer immunotherapy. We do this by conducting pre-clinical research to identify new and combinatory immunotherapy methods that can be translated to clinical practice. Our goal is to improve immunotherapy for all of our patients with all types of cancers, including those that have, to date, proven resistant to immune-based therapies.