Paulo C. Rodriguez, PhD

Research in Dr. Rodriguez’s laboratory focuses on understanding mechanisms underlying the inhibition of immune responses in tumor-bearing hosts, in generating new therapies to overcome tumor-induced immune suppression, and to enhance efficacy of different forms of immunotherapy. The long-term goal is to develop new strategies to restore protective immunity in cancer, leading to long-lasting anti-tumor effector T cell responses.  The Rodriguez lab has described over the years the role of metabolism of different amino acids as a major mechanism of immune suppression in both mice and humans with tumors (see Figure below).  Through the years, we have established three different research programs:

(1) To determine the role of specific sensors for cellular stress in regulating the function and accumulation of Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in tumors,

(2) To characterize the therapeutic use of a pegylated form of the human arginase I as an effective chemotherapy agent for acute lymphoblastic leukemia,

(3) To test the prediction that over expression of Notch-1 in T cells induces resistance to MDSC suppression and represents a significant new therapy for immunotherapy in tumors.