Current Research: Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed in American men, accounting for one-third of newly diagnosed cases. The discovery of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) provided an effective means of identifying men at risk for prostate cancer, leading to earlier interventions and increased survival rates. Despite this, prostate cancer remains deadly due in large part to the lack of treatment options for advanced, androgen independent metastatic disease. Breaking immune tolerance to tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) is an attractive strategy for the treatment of cancer. However, harnessing this approach for clinical applications will require a better understanding of the interaction between the immune system and tumors. While TAA- specific T cells have been shown to infiltrate and coexist with progressively growing tumors, the reasons for this phenomenon are currently under debate and not easily investigated using conventional techniques. Our lab seeks to characterize TAA specific lymphocyte activity using in vivo bioluminescent imaging and postitron emission tomography. Because androgen independence is a hallmark of treatment refractory prostate cancer, my goal is to investigate the effects of androgen on tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and their ability to mount an anti tumor response. Honors and Awards: Honorable Mention, Ford Fellowship Recent Publications: Akins EJ and Dubey P. Noninvasive Imaging of Cell-mediated Therapy for the Treatment of Cancer. J Nucl Med. 2008 Jun;49 Suppl 2:180S-95S. Jones HC, Chen, GF, Yehia BR, Carter BJ, Akins EJ, Wolpin LC. Single and multiple congenic strains for hydrocephalus in the H-Tx rat. Mamm Genome. 2005 Apr;16(4):251-61. Publications:
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