Faculty Research : Faculty Research Detail

Eli Gilboa, Ph.D.

Dodson Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Director, Dodson Interdisciplinary Immunotherapy Institute, Co-leader, Tumor Immunology Research Program, UM/Sylvester Cancer Center

305-243-1767 (office)

305-243-4409 (fax)

Room 211, Papanicolaou Cancer Research Building

Curriculum Vitae

BA, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, 1971
Ph.D., Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, 1977
Postdoctoral fellow, M.I.T., 1980
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology Princeton University, 1986
Associate Member, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, 1993
Professor, Departments of Surgery and Immunology Duke University Medical Center, 2006
Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, since 2006

Research Interests

My laboratory is using murine tumor models to develop multi-pronged approaches to potentiate vaccine- and naturally-induced antitumor immunity. The current main strategy is to target therapeutic agents to tumor cells or the immune system using oligonucleotide-based aptamer ligands. Therapeutic agents conjugated to the targeting aptamer ligands are siRNAs to counter feed-back mechanisms in tumor-specific immune cells, to inhibit the action of immune suppressive regulatory T cells, or to activate novel antigens in tumor cells, aptamers which bind and activate costimulatory pathways in the tumor-infiltrating T cells, or chemotherapeutic drugs which induce “immunogenic” tumor cell death. Nucleic acid-based aptamers are a new platform technology for generating “designer” ligands which offer potentially important advantages compared to antibody- and protein-based ligands. Driven by the premise of synergy among complementary interventions, an important goal of our program is to develop clinically feasible multi-pronged approaches to induce new antigens in tumor cells, potentiate the antitumor immune response, and counter tumor-induced immune suppressive mechanisms.

Recent Publications

1. Gilboa, E. 2004. The promise of cancer vaccines. Nat Rev Cancer 4:401-411.

2. Boczkowski, D., S.K. Nair, D. Snyder, and E. Gilboa. 1996. Dendritic cells pulsed with RNA are potent antigen-presenting cells in vitro and in vivo. J Exp Med 184:465-472.

3. Weissman, D., H. Ni, D. Scales, A. Dude, J. Capodici, K. McGibney, A. Abdool, S.N. Isaacs, G. Cannon, and K. Kariko. 2000. HIV gag mRNA transfection of dendritic cells (DC) delivers encoded antigen to MHC class I and II molecules, causes DC maturation, and induces a potent human in vitro primary immune response. J Immunol 165:4710-4717.

4. Gilboa, E., and J. Vieweg. 2004. Cancer immunotherapy with mRNA-transfected dendritic cells. Immunol Rev 199:251-263.

5. Heiser, A., D. Coleman, J. Dannull, D. Yancey, M.A. Maurice, C.D. Lallas, P. Dahm, D. Niedzwiecki, E. Gilboa, and J. Vieweg. 2002. Autologous dendritic cells transfected with prostate-specific antigen RNA stimulate CTL responses against metastatic prostate tumors. J Clin Invest 109:409-417.

6. Su, Z., J. Dannull, A. Heiser, D. Yancey, S. Pruitt, J. Madden, D. Coleman, D. Niedzwiecki, E. Gilboa, and J. Vieweg. 2003. Immunological and clinical responses in metastatic renal cancer patients vaccinated with tumor RNA-transfected dendritic cells. Cancer Res 63:2127-2133.

7. Su, Z., J. Dannull, B.K. Yang, P. Dahm, D. Coleman, D. Yancey, S. Sichi, D. Niedzwiecki, D. Boczkowski, E. Gilboa, and J. Vieweg. 2005. Telomerase mRNA-transfected dendritic cells stimulate antigen-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. J Immunol 174:3798-3807.

8. Dannull, J., Z. Su, D. Rizzieri, B.K. Yang, D. Coleman, D. Yancey, A. Zhang, P. Dahm, N. Chao, E. Gilboa, and J. Vieweg. 2005. Enhancement of vaccine-mediated antitumor immunity in cancer patients after depletion of regulatory T cells. J Clin Invest 115:3623-3633.

9. Nair, S., C. McLaughlin, A. Weizer, Z. Su, D. Boczkowski, J. Dannull, J. Vieweg, and E. Gilboa. 2003. Injection of immature dendritic cells into adjuvant-treated skin obviates the need for ex vivo maturation. J Immunol 171:6275-6282.

10. Nair, S.K., D. Boczkowski, M. Morse, R.I. Cumming, H.K. Lyerly, and E. Gilboa. 1998. Induction of primary carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in vitro using human dendritic cells transfected with RNA. Nat Biotechnol 16:364-369.

11. Su, Z., J. Vieweg, A.Z. Weizer, P. Dahm, D. Yancey, V. Turaga, J. Higgins, D. Boczkowski, E. Gilboa, and J. Dannull. 2002. Enhanced induction of telomerase-specific CD4(+) T cells using dendritic cells transfected with RNA encoding a chimeric gene product. Cancer Res 62:5041-5048.

12. Dannull, J., S. Nair, Z. Su, D. Boczkowski, C. DeBeck, B. Yang, E. Gilboa, and J. Vieweg. 2005. Enhancing the immunostimulatory function of dendritic cells by transfection with mRNA encoding OX40 ligand. Blood 105:3206-3213.

13. Santulli-Marotto, S., S.K. Nair, C. Rusconi, B. Sullenger, and E. Gilboa. 2003. Multivalent RNA aptamers that inhibit CTLA-4 and enhance tumor immunity. Cancer Res 63:7483-7489.

14. McNamara, J.O., 2nd, E.R. Andrechek, Y. Wang, K.D. Viles, R.E. Rempel, E. Gilboa, B.A. Sullenger, and P.H. Giangrande. 2006. Cell type-specific delivery of siRNAs with aptamer-siRNA chimeras. Nat Biotechnol 24:1005-1015.

15. Nair, S., D. Boczkowski, M. Fassnacht, D. Pisetsky, and E. Gilboa. 2007. Vaccination against the forkhead family transcription factor Foxp3 enhances tumor immunity. Cancer Res 67:371-380.

16. Nair, S., D. Boczkowski, B. Moeller, M. Dewhirst, J. Vieweg, and E. Gilboa. 2003. Synergy between tumor immunotherapy and antiangiogenic therapy. Blood 102:964-971.

17. Fassnacht, M., J. Lee, C. Milazzo, D. Boczkowski, Z. Su, S. Nair, and E. Gilboa. 2005. Induction of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell responses to the human stromal antigen, fibroblast activation protein: implication for cancer immunotherapy. Clin Cancer Res 11:5566-5571.

18. Lee, J., M. Fassnacht, S. Nair, D. Boczkowski, and E. Gilboa. 2005. Tumor immunotherapy targeting fibroblast activation protein, a product expressed in tumor-associated fibroblasts. Cancer Res 65:11156-11163.

19. Kavanagh, D.G., D.E. Kaufmann, S. Sunderji, N. Frahm, S. Le Gall, D. Boczkowski, E.S. Rosenberg, D.R. Stone, M.N. Johnston, B.S. Wagner, M.T. Zaman, C. Brander, E. Gilboa, B.D. Walker, and N. Bhardwaj. 2006. Expansion of HIV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells by dendritic cells transfected with mRNA encoding cytoplasm- or lysosome-targeted Nef. Blood 107:1963-1969.

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