Donghwan Jeon

McNeel lab recently found that stimulation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) can alleviate the expression of PD-1 while activating CD8+ T cells with tumor antigens. This was mediated by the IL-12 secretion from TLR stimulated antigen presenting cells, and these T cells with TLR-stimulated condition showed improved anti-tumor immunity in mice tumor model, similar to the treatment of the PD-1 blockades. Heron's role is to examine whether the combination of TLR agonists with other immune-modulating agents can further decrease the expression of checkpoint receptors on CD8+ T cells and improve T cell mediated anti-tumor immunity.