Peter P. Lee

Clinical Focus

• Cancer > Hematology
• Cancer > Hematology > Leukemia - Acute and Chronic
• Hematology
• Leukemia - Hematology

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Advisees

Damiano Cereghetti , Andrea Miyahira , Alvernia Setiadi , Ning Yan , Hongxiang Yu

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Cancer Biology
• Immunology
• Medicine

Web Site Links

• Lee Lab Home Page

Industry Relationships

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Research Interests

My research focuses on understanding the biology of the immune response to cancer. It is becoming clear that the immune system plays an important role in controlling cancer development and modulating cancer growth. Even patients with metastatic cancer can be shown to have an on-going immune response to their cancer. Why the immune response fails to be protective in the cancer patient remains unclear. A better understanding of this fundamental question may lead to improved strategies to manipulate the immune response as novel cancer therapy.

Key questions being pursued:
1. How does the immune system tell a cancer cell from a normal cell?
2. What are the molecular mechanisms by which cancer cells modulate the immune response?
3. How do different treatments - chemotherapy, radiation, transplantation, biotherapies (e.g. IL-2, Interferon, etc.) - impact on the balance between tumor cell proliferation and the immune response?

To address these questions, we are utilizing state-of-the-art technologies such as dendritic cell and T cell cloning, multi-color (up to 11 color) FACS analysis and sorting, peptide/MHC tetramers, and cDNA microarrays. We are also utilizing mathematical models and simulation with supercomputers to gain insights into the dynamics (systems biology) of these responses.

Clinical Trials

• Immunobiology of Breast Cancer Recruiting
• Immunobiology of Cancer Recruiting

Publications

• Modeling imatinib-treated chronic myelogenous leukemia: reducing the complexity of agent-based models. Kim PS, Lee PP, Levy D. Bull Math Biol. 2008; 70 (3): 728-44
• Development and dynamics of robust T-cell responses to CML under imatinib treatment. Chen CI, Maecker HT, Lee PP. Blood. 2008; 111 (11): 5342-9
• Engineering of a human vaginal Lactobacillus strain for surface expression of two-domain CD4 molecules. Liu X, Lagenaur LA, Lee PP, Xu Q. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008; 74 (15): 4626-35
• Down-regulation of the interferon signaling pathway in T lymphocytes from patients with metastatic melanoma. Critchley-Thorne RJ, Yan N, Nacu S, Weber J, Holmes SP, Lee PP. PLoS Med. 2007; 4 (5): e176
• Gene expression network analysis and applications to immunology. Nacu S, Critchley-Thorne R, Lee P, Holmes S. Bioinformatics. 2007; 23 (7): 850-8