Wenwei Hu, MD, PhD

Recent advances in cancer immunotherapy, a powerful treatment which helps our immune system find and destroy cancer cells, have changed how we treat cancer.  For some patients, this can lead to long-term control of cancer, or even a cure. However, not all patients benefit from immunotherapy. One reason is that cancer can protect itself by weakening the immune system.Tumors grow in an environment made of cancer cells, normal cells, immune cells, and nearby tissue. This tumor microenvironment plays an important role in how cancers grow and treatments work. Many tumors release proteins that change this environment. These proteins can create an “immune-suppressive” state that shields cancers from attacks by immune cells.  To date, we still do not fully understand how this shield forms and stays in place.Our research focuses on one such tumor-secreted protein, called leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF).  Cancer cells release LIF into the tumor microenvironment, helping the tumor grow and leading to worse survival outcomes. This project will study how LIF works within the tumor microenvironment.  We will study how LIF weakens the immune system, which lets cancer grow and escape attack. By learning how LIF affects the immune system, we hope to find new ways to block it and make immunotherapy work better.  Because LIF is found at high levels in many cancers, this research could help improve treatment for many patients.