To remain latent, they may have to suppress anti-viral host mechanisms, which can pave the way for cancer. The $8 million program project grant will enable researchers to uncover the mechanism and study them in trials.


RESEARCHERS DEVELOP STRATEGY TO DESTROY CANCER USING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM A team of researchers at Sylvester has found a way to harness the immune system to fight cancer. Pathogens such as bacteria and viruses elicit an immune response because they express antigens that are recognized as foreign. Because tumor cells are similar to normal cells in our bodies, they don’t express many foreign antigens and can escape immune surveillance. Led by Eli Gilboa, Ph.D., Dodson Professor of Microbiology and


Immunology and co-leader of the Tumor Immunology Program at Sylvester, the team developed an entirely new method to induce the expression of antigens on the surface of tumor cells so the immune system responds aggressively. This finding, published in the journal Nature, could lead to a new therapy for patients with most forms of cancer and even more aggressive tumors.


SYLVESTER WINS GRANT TO REDUCE CERVICAL CANCER AMONG MINORITIES


The National Cancer Institute has awarded Sylvester more than $4.2 million to fund a five-year project aimed at reducing the excess rate of cervical cancer among minority women. Nationally, African-Americans and Hispanics are twice as likely to contract cervical cancer and twice as likely to die from the disease as non-Hispanic whites. Haitians in the Miami metropolitan area face an even higher incidence of disease. Led by Olveen Carrasquillo, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of


medicine and chief of the Division of General Medicine, and Erin Kobetz, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of epidemiology and public health, the goal of the South Florida Center for Reducing Cancer Disparities (SUCCESS) is to eliminate cervical cancer health disparities in the South Florida community through increased cervical cancer screening.


THE MAGAZINE OF SYLVESTER COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER 19


Dr. Eli Gilboa leads a team developing a strategy to destroy cancer using the immune system.


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