Gregory A. Lizee, Ph.D.
Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Professor, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology - Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Professor, Department of Immunology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
Tumor immunology; cytotoxic T lymphocytes; dendritic cells; antigen presentation; immunosuppression in cancer.
Using the tumor immunopeptidome to guide the design of personalized cancer vaccines. Although T-cell checkpoint blockade has shown great promise for inducing long-term tumor regressions in cancer patients, the majority still succumb to their disease following an initial response to treatment. A very serious current limitation to most immunotherapeutic interventions is a lack of specificity in immune system activation: IL-2 and the checkpoint blockade approaches activate T lymphocytes non-specifically, often inducing serious autoimmune side effects.
One of the major barriers in immunotherapy today is a lack of knowledge about the vast majority of antigenic targets that are presented by MHC class I (MHC-I) molecules on individual patient tumors. Having knowledge of these MHC-I ligands will provide unprecedented opportunities to target these tumor targets clinically, resulting in increased effectiveness and less treatment side effects. To this end, our group has spent the past year focused on identifying MHC-I ligands directly from the surface of patient tumor cell lines and biopsies using a combined approach encompassing MS-based proteomics, genomics, and bioinformatics. In collaboration with Dr. David Hawke of the Proteomics Facility, we have now optimized the peptide elution and mass spectrophotometry techniques, allowing us to successfully identify thousands of potentially antigenic peptides from melanomas, sarcomas, colon, breast, and pancreatic patient tumors. It is hoped that this project will lead to the development of personalized cancer vaccines not restricted by tumor type, patient HLA haplotype, or limited by a lack of known target tumor antigens.
Improving antitumor immunity through modulation of MHC class I antigen presentation. MHC class I–mediated antigen presentation is the central focus of the immune response during naïve cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) priming and cytotoxic effector recognition of target cells. We have studied both of these systems to elucidate the biological role of the MHC-I cytoplasmic domain, which contains two relatively uncharacterized, highly conserved phosphorylation sites and a putative ubiquitination site. My laboratory is particularly interested in how these post-translational modifications can influence CD8+ T-cell mediated antitumor immune responses. Through site-directed mutagenesis, we have shown that there are two opposing motifs within the MHC-I cytoplasmic domain, and that alteration of these motifs can dramatically alter antitumor CTL priming efficiency by dendritic cells (DCs). These findings could have important implications for human cancer vaccines, particularly if we identify druggable targets to enable modulation of MHC-I antigen presentation in DCs to improve CTL priming. In addition, our group has started to delineate a connection between the MAPK signaling pathway and MHC-I trafficking and antigen presentation in melanoma cells. In particular, we have shown that drug inhibition of oncogenic BRAF(V600E) leads to a rapid redistribution of MHC-I molecules to the plasma membrane, a property that appears to be dependent on one of the two conserved cytoplasmic phosphorylation sites. We are currently using the peptide elution / mass spec analysis to assess how such drug treatments may affect the immunopeptidome of tumor cells. It is hoped that these findings will have an impact clinically, by helping to guide the design of rational treatment regimens that combine targeted agents with immune-based therapies.
Exploring the link between oncogene activation and immune suppression in cancer. Although T cell-based immunotherapies have the potential to induce long-lasting complete remissions in cancer patients, their efficacy is often limited by immunosuppressive cells and factors found within the tumor microenvironment that protect the tumor from immune recognition and killing by CTLs. While several tumor-specific mechanisms of immunosuppression have been described, how immunosuppression is initiated and sustained within neoplastic lesions to promote tumor growth remains to be fully elucidated. Our lab has recently shown that immunosuppression can be initiated by oncogenic BRAF(V600E), which is mutated to a constitutively active form in about half of melanoma patients. This pathway of immunosuppression involves a molecular cross-talk between BRAF(V600E)-expressing tumor cells and tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) and features the upregulation of a transcriptional program involving multiple immunomodulatory genes known to inhibit immune responses. Key features of this cross-talk involve oncogene-induced expression of IL-1 a and IL-1 b by melanoma tumor cells, which in turn triggers the upregulation of T-cell inhibitory molecules PD-L1, PD-L2, and COX-2 by TAFs. Collectively, our results suggest that cancer-associated chronic immunosuppression may be relieved through the pharmacological inhibition of the MAPK signaling pathway in tumor cells, and predict that such interventions would synergize strongly with immunotherapy.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2000 | University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CAN, PhD, Immunology |
| 1991 | Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, CAN, BS, Biological Sciences |
Postgraduate Training
| 2003-2005 | Research Scientist, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Melanoma Medical Oncology, Houston, TX |
| 2001-2003 | Research Fellowship, Tumor Immunology, Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD |
| 2000-2001 | Research Fellowship, Immunology, Biomedical Research Centre, Vancouver |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology - Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2012 - 2019
Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2007 - 2012
Assistant Professor, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology - Research, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2005 - 2012
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Organizer and Host, CCIR Postdoc-Graduate Student Seminar Series, Department of Immunology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2010 - 2017
TIL Lab Tour VIP Host and Texas Government Liason, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2008 - 2018
Other Appointments/Responsibilities
Research Scientist, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2003 - 2005
Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Immunology Program Steering Committee, 2012 - 2016
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Li F, Wu H, Du X, Sun Y, Rausseo BN, Talukder A, Katailiha A, Elzohary L, Wang Y, Wang Z, Lizée G. Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Targeted Neoantigen Peptide Vaccination for the Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Glioblastoma. Vaccines (Basel) 11(9), 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37766136.
- Chen CH, Chin RL, Hartley GP, Lea ST, Engel BJ, Hsieh CE, Prasad R, Roszik J, Shingu T, Lizee GA, Heimberger AB, Millward SW, Hu J, Hong DS, Curran MA. Novel Murine Glioblastoma Models That Reflect the Immunotherapy Resistance Profile of Human Disease. Neuro Oncol 25(8):1415-1427, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36705543.
- Liang S, Jiang X, Chiu Y, Xu H, Kim KH, Lizee G, Chen K. An interpretable ML model to characterize patient-specific HLA-I antigen presentation. bioRxiv, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 36993682.
- Hall-Swan S, Slone J, Rigo MM, Antunes DA, Lizée G, Kavraki LE. PepSim: T-cell cross-reactivity prediction via comparison of peptide sequence and peptide-HLA structure. Front Immunol 14:1108303, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37187737.
- Chaudhri A, Bu X, Wang Y, Gomez M, Torchia JA, Hua P, Hung SH, Davies MA, Lizee GA, von Andrian U, Hwu P, Freeman GJ. The CX3CL1-CX3CR1 chemokine axis can contribute to tumor immune evasion and blockade with a novel CX3CR1 monoclonal antibody enhances response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. Front Immunol 14:1237715, 2023. e-Pub 2023. PMID: 37771579.
- Jackson KR, Antunes DA, Talukder AH, Maleki AR, Amagai K, Salmon A, Katailiha AS, Chiu Y, Fasoulis R, Rigo MM, Abella JR, Melendez BD, Li F, Sun Y, Sonnemann HM, Belousov V, Frenkel F, Justesen S, Makaju A, Liu Y, Horn D, Lopez-Ferrer D, Huhmer AF, Hwu P, Roszik J, Hawke D, Kavraki LE, Lizée G. Charge-based interactions through peptide position 4 drive diversity of antigen presentation by human leukocyte antigen class I molecules. PNAS Nexus 1(3):pgac124, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36003074.
- Hailemichael Y, Johnson DH, Abdel-Wahab N, Foo WC, Bentebibel SE, Daher M, Haymaker C, Wani K, Saberian C, Ogata D, Kim ST, Nurieva R, Lazar AJ, Abu-Sbeih H, Fa'ak F, Mathew A, Wang Y, Falohun A, Trinh V, Zobniw C, Spillson C, Burks JK, Awiwi M, Elsayes K, Soto LS, Melendez BD, Davies MA, Wargo J, Curry J, Yee C, Lizée G, Singh S, Sharma P, Allison JP, Hwu P, Ekmekcioglu S, Diab A. Interleukin-6 blockade abrogates immunotherapy toxicity and promotes tumor immunity. Cancer Cell 40(5):509-523.e6, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35537412.
- Sun Y, Li F, Sonnemann H, Jackson KR, Talukder AH, Katailiha AS, Lizée G. Evolution of CD8+ T Cell Receptor (TCR) Engineered Therapies for the Treatment of Cancer. Cells 10(9), 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34572028.
- Li F, Deng L, Jackson KR, Talukder AH, Katailiha AS, Bradley SD, Zou Q, Chen C, Huo C, Chiu Y, Stair M, Feng W, Bagaev A, Kotlov N, Svekolkin V, Ataullakhanov R, Miheecheva N, Frenkel F, Wang Y, Zhang M, Hawke D, Han L, Zhou S, Zhang Y, Wang Z, Decker WK, Sonnemann HM, Roszik J, Forget MA, Davies MA, Bernatchez C, Yee C, Bassett R, Hwu P, Du X, Lizée G. Neoantigen vaccination induces clinical and immunologic responses in non-small cell lung cancer patients harboring EGFR mutations. J Immunother Cancer 9(7), 2021. PMID: 34244308.
- Gupta RG, Li F, Roszik J, Lizée GA. Exploiting Tumor Neoantigens to Target Cancer Evolution: Current Challenges and Promising Therapeutic Approaches. Cancer Discov 11(5):1024-1039, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33722796.
- Saberian C, Amaria RN, Najjar AM, Radvanyi LG, Haymaker CL, Forget MA, Bassett RL, Faria SC, Glitza IC, Alvarez E, Parshottam S, Prieto V, Lizée G, Wong MK, McQuade JL, Diab A, Yee C, Tawbi HA, Patel S, Shpall EJ, Davies MA, Hwu P, Bernatchez C. Randomized phase II trial of lymphodepletion plus adoptive cell transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, with or without dendritic cell vaccination, in patients with metastatic melanoma. J Immunother Cancer 9(5), 2021. PMID: 34021033.
- Singh S, Xiao Z, Bavisi K, Roszik J, Melendez BD, Wang Z, Cantwell MJ, Davis RE, Lizée G, Hwu P, Neelapu SS, Overwijk WW, Singh M. IL-1α Mediates Innate and Acquired Resistance to Immunotherapy in Melanoma. J Immunol 206(8):1966-1975, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33722878.
- Yoshihama S, Cho SX, Yeung J, Pan X, Lizée G, Konganti K, Johnson VE, Kobayashi KS. NLRC5/CITA expression correlates with efficient response to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy. Sci Rep 11(1):3258, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33547395.
- Abella JR, Antunes D, Jackson K, Lizée G, Clementi C, Kavraki LE. Markov state modeling reveals alternative unbinding pathways for peptide-MHC complexes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 117(48):30610-30618, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33184174.
- Bradley SD, Talukder AH, Lai I, Davis R, Alvarez H, Tiriac H, Zhang M, Chiu Y, Melendez B, Jackson KR, Katailiha A, Sonnemann HM, Li F, Kang Y, Qiao N, Pan BF, Lorenzi PL, Hurd M, Mittendorf EA, Peterson CB, Javle M, Bristow C, Kim M, Tuveson DA, Hawke D, Kopetz S, Wolff RA, Hwu P, Maitra A, Roszik J, Yee C, Lizée G. Vestigial-like 1 is a shared targetable cancer-placenta antigen expressed by pancreatic and basal-like breast cancers. Nat Commun 11(1):5332, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33087697.
- Antunes DA, Abella JR, Hall-Swan S, Devaurs D, Conev A, Moll M, Lizée G, Kavraki LE. HLA-Arena: A Customizable Environment for the Structural Modeling and Analysis of Peptide-HLA Complexes for Cancer Immunotherapy. JCO Clin Cancer Inform 4:623-636, 2020. PMID: 32667823.
- Peng W, Williams LJ, Xu C, Melendez B, McKenzie JA, Chen Y, Jackson HL, Voo KS, Mbofung RM, Leahey SE, Wang J, Lizée G, Tawbi HA, Davies MA, Hoos A, Smothers J, Srinivasan R, Paul EM, Yanamandra N, Hwu P. Anti-OX40 antibody directly enhances the function of tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells and synergizes with PI3Kβ inhibition in PTEN loss melanoma. Clin Cancer Res 25(21):6406-6416, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31371342.
- Devaurs D, Antunes DA, Hall-Swan S, Mitchell N, Moll M, Lizée G, Kavraki LE. Using parallelized incremental meta-docking can solve the conformational sampling issue when docking large ligands to proteins. BMC Mol Cell Biol 20(1):42, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31488048.
- Zhang M, Fritsche J, Roszik J, Williams LJ, Peng X, Chiu Y, Tsou CC, Hoffgaard F, Goldfinger V, Schoor O, Talukder A, Forget MA, Haymaker C, Bernatchez C, Han L, Tsang YH, Kong K, Xu X, Scott KL, Singh-Jasuja H, Lizée G, Liang H, Weinschenk T, Mills GB, Hwu P. RNA editing derived epitopes function as cancer antigens to elicit immune responses. Nat Commun 9(1):3919, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30254248.
- Huang L, Malu S, McKenzie JA, Andrews MC, Talukder AH, Tieu T, Karpinets T, Haymaker C, Forget MA, Williams LJ, Wang Z, Mbofung RM, Wang ZQ, Davis RE, Lo RS, Wargo JA, Davies MA, Bernatchez C, Heffernan T, Amaria RN, Korkut A, Peng W, Roszik J, Lizée G, Woodman SE, Hwu P. The RNA-binding protein MEX3B mediates resistance to cancer immunotherapy by downregulating HLA-A expression. Clin Cancer Res 24(14):3366-3376, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29496759.
- Antunes DA, Devaurs D, Moll M, Lizée G, Kavraki LE. General Prediction of Peptide-MHC Binding Modes Using Incremental Docking: A Proof of Concept. Sci Rep 8(1):4327, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29531253.
- Wolff RA, Wang-Gillam A, Alvarez H, Tiriac H, Engle D, Hou S, Groff AF, San Lucas A, Bernard V, Allenson K, Castillo J, Kim D, Mulu F, Huang J, Stephens B, Wistuba II, Katz M, Varadhachary G, Park Y, Hicks J, Chinnaiyan A, Scampavia L, Spicer T, Gerhardinger C, Maitra A, Tuveson D, Rinn J, Lizée G, Yee C, Levine AJ. Dynamic changes during the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Oncotarget 9(19):14764-14790, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29599906.
- Antunes DA, Moll M, Devaurs D, Jackson KR, Lizée G, Kavraki LE. DINC 2.0: A New Protein-Peptide Docking Webserver Using an Incremental Approach. Cancer Res 77(21):e55-e57, 2017. PMID: 29092940.
- Lyons YA, Pradeep S, Wu SY, Haemmerle M, Hansen JM, Wagner MJ, Villar-Prados A, Nagaraja AS, Dood RL, Previs RA, Hu W, Zhao Y, Mak DH, Xiao Z, Melendez BD, Lizée G, Mercado-Uribe I, Baggerly KA, Hwu P, Liu J, Overwijk WW, Coleman RL, Sood AK. Macrophage depletion through colony stimulating factor 1 receptor pathway blockade overcomes adaptive resistance to anti-VEGF therapy. Oncotarget 8(57):96496-96505, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29228548.
- Mbofung RM, McKenzie JA, Malu S, Zhang M, Peng W, Liu C, Kuiatse I, Tieu T, Williams L, Devi S, Ashkin E, Xu C, Huang L, Zhang M, Talukder AH, Tripathi SC, Khong H, Satani N, Muller FL, Roszik J, Heffernan T, Allison JP, Lizée G, Hanash SM, Proia D, Amaria R, Davis RE, Hwu P. HSP90 inhibition enhances cancer immunotherapy by upregulating interferon response genes. Nat Commun 8(1):451, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28878208.
- Park J, Talukder AH, Lim SA, Kim K, Pan K, Melendez B, Bradley SD, Jackson KR, Khalili JS, Wang J, Creasy C, Pan BF, Woodman SE, Bernatchez C, Hawke D, Hwu P, Lee KM, Roszik J, Lizée G, Yee C. SLC45A2: A Melanoma Antigen with High Tumor Selectivity and Reduced Potential for Autoimmune Toxicity. Cancer Immunol Res 5(8):618-629, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28630054.
- Li F, Du X, Zhang H, Ju T, Chen C, Qu Q, Zhang X, Qi L, Lizée G. Next Generation Sequencing of Chinese Stage IV Lung Cancer Patients Reveals an Association between EGFR Mutation Status and Survival Outcome. Clin Genet 91(3):488-493, 2017. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27221040.
- Yee C, Lizée G. Personalized Therapy: Tumor Antigen Discovery for Adoptive Cellular Therapy. Cancer J 23(2):144-148, 2017. PMID: 28410303.
- Alatrash G, Garber HR, Zhang M, Sukhumalchandra P, Qiu Y, Jakher H, Perakis AA, Becker L, Yoo SY, Dwyer KC, Coombes K, Talukder AH, John LSS, Senyukov V, Lee DA, Sergeeva A, He H, Ma Q, Armistead PM, Roszik J, Mittendorf EA, Molldrem JJ, Hawke D, Lizee G, Kornblau SM. Cathepsin G is broadly expressed in acute myeloid leukemia and is an effective immunotherapeutic target. Leukemia 31(1):234-237, 2017. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27573556.
- Yoshihama S, Roszik J, Downs I, Meissner TB, Vijayan S, Chapuy B, Sidiq T, Shipp MA,Lizée G, Kobayashi KS. NLRC5/MHC class I transactivator is a target for immune evasion in cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113(21):5999-6004, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27162338.
- Bernatchez C, Cooper ZA, Wargo JA, Hwu P, Lizée G. Novel Treatments in Development for Melanoma. Cancer Treat Res 167:371-416, 2016. PMID: 26601872.
- Li F, Chen C, Ju T, Gao J, Yan J, Wang P, Xu Q, Hwu P, Du X, Lizée G. Rapid tumor regression in an Asian lung cancer patient following personalized neo-epitope peptide vaccination. Oncoimmunology 5(12):e1238539, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 28123873.
- Peng W, Chen JQ, Liu C, Malu S, Creasy C, Tetzlaff MT, Xu C, McKenzie JA, Zhang C, Liang X, Williams LJ, Deng W, Chen G, Mbofung R, Lazar AJ, Torres Cabala CA, Cooper ZA, Chen PL, Tieu TN, Spranger S, Yu X, Bernatchez C, Forget MA, Haymaker C, Amaria R, McQuade JL, Glitza IC, Cascone T, Li H, Kwong LN, Heffernan TP, Hu J, Bassett RL, Bosenberg MW, Woodman SE, Overwijk WW, Lizée G, Roszik J, Gajewski TF, Wargo JA, Gershenwald JE, Radvanyi LG, Davies MA, Hwu P. Loss of PTEN promotes resistance to T cell-mediated immunotherapy. Cancer Discov. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26645196.
- Yee C, Lizee G, Schueneman AJ. Endogenous T-Cell Therapy: Clinical Experience. Cancer J 21(6):492-500, 2015. PMID: 26588682.
- Bradley SD, Melendez B, Talukder A, Lizee G. Trouble at the Core: BRAF(V600E) drives multiple modes of T-cell suppression in melanoma. Oncoimmunology, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Bradley SD, Chen Z, Melendez B, Talukder A, Khalili JS, Rodriguez-Cruz T, Liu S, Whittington M, Deng W, Li F, Bernatchez C, Radvanyi LG, Davies MA, Hwu P, Lizée G. BRAFV600E Co-opts a Conserved MHC Class I Internalization Pathway to Diminish Antigen Presentation and CD8+ T-cell Recognition of Melanoma. Cancer Immunol Res 3(6):602-9, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25795007.
- Hunsucker SA, McGary CS, Vincent BG, Enyenihi AA, Waugh JP, McKinnon KP, Bixby LM, Ropp PA, Coghill JM, Wood WA, Gabriel DA, Sarantopoulos S, Shea TC, Serody JS, Alatrash G, Rodriguez-Cruz T,Lizée G, Buntzman AS, Frelinger JA, Glish GL, Armistead PM. Peptide/MHC tetramer-based sorting of CD8 T cells to a leukemia antigen yields clonotypes drawn nonspecifically from an underlying restricted repertoire. Cancer Immunol Res 3(3):228-35, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25576336.
- Tseng WW, Malu S, Zhang M, Chen J, Sim GC, Wei W, Ingram D, Somaiah N, Lev DC, Pollock RE, Lizée G, Radvanyi L, Hwu P. Analysis of the intratumoral adaptive immune response in well differentiated and dedifferentiated retroperitoneal liposarcoma. Sarcoma 2015:547460, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25705114.
- Qin Y, Milton DR, Oba J, Ding Z, Lizée G, Ekmekcioglu S, Grimm EA. Inflammatory IL-1β-Driven JNK Activation in Stage III Melanoma. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25546243.
- Brown WS, Khalili JS, Rodriguez-Cruz TG, Lizée G, McIntyre BW. B-Raf Regulation of Integrin α4β1-mediated Resistance to Shear Stress through Changes in Cell Spreading and Cytoskeletal Association in T Cells. J Biol Chem 289(33):23141-53, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24936068.
- Li F, Guo Z, Lizée G, Yu H, Wang H, Si T. Clinical prognostic value of CD4+CD25+FOXP3+regulatory T cells in peripheral blood of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Clin Chem Lab Med. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24646790.
- Vence LM, Wang C, Pappu H, Anson RE, Patel TA, Miller P, Bassett R, Lizée G, Overwijk WW, Komanduri K, Benjamin C, Alvarado G, Patel SP, Kim K, Papadopoulos NE, Bedikian AY, Homsi J, Hwu WJ, Boyd R, Radvanyi L, Hwu P. Chemical castration of melanoma patients does not increase the frequency of tumor-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells after peptide vaccination. J Immunother 36(4):276-86, 2013. PMID: 23603862.
- Frederick DT, Piris A, Cogdill AP, Cooper ZA, Lezcano C, Ferrone CR, Mitra D, Boni A, Newton LP, Liu C, Peng W, Sullivan RJ, Lawrence DP, Hodi FS, Overwijk WW, Lizee G, Murphy GF, Hwu P, Flaherty KT, Fisher DE, Wargo JA. BRAF Inhibition Is Associated with Enhanced Melanoma Antigen Expression and a More Favorable Tumor Microenvironment in Patients with Metastatic Melanoma. Clin Cancer Res 19(5):1225-31, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 23307859.
- Peng W, Lizée G, Hwu P. Blockade of the PD-1 pathway enhances the efficacy of adoptive cell therapy against cancer. Oncoimmunology 2(2):e22691, 2013. PMID: 23524510.
- Yang Y, Lizée G, Hwu P. Strong emerging rationale for combining oncogene-targeted agents with immunotherapy. Oncoimmunology 2(2):e22730, 2013. PMID: 23524978.
- Khalili JS, Hwu P, Lizée G. Forging a link between oncogenic signaling and immunosuppression in melanoma. Oncoimmunology 2(2):e22745, 2013. PMID: 23525189.
- Lizée G, Overwijk WW, Radvanyi L, Gao J, Sharma P, Hwu P. Harnessing the Power of the Immune System to Target Cancer. Annu Rev Med 64:71-90, 2013. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23092383.
- Liu C, Peng W, Xu C, Lou Y, Zhang M, Wargo JA, Chen JQ, Li HS, Watowich SS, Yang Y, Tompers Frederick D, Cooper ZA, Mbofung RM, Whittington M, Flaherty KT, Woodman SE, Davies MA, Radvanyi LG, Overwijk WW, Lizée G, Hwu P. BRAF inhibition increases tumor infiltration by T cells and enhances the antitumor activity of adoptive immunotherapy in mice. Clin Cancer Res 19(2):393-403, 2013. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23204132.
- Radvanyi LG, Bernatchez C, Zhang M, Fox PS, Miller P, Chacon J, Wu R,Lizée G, Mahoney S, Alvarado G, Glass M, Johnson VE, McMannis JD, Shpall E, Prieto V, Papadopoulos N, Kim K, Homsi J, Bedikian A, Hwu WJ, Patel S, Ross MI, Lee JE, Gershenwald JE, Lucci A, Royal R, Cormier JN, Davies MA, Mansaray R, Fulbright OJ, Toth C, Ramachandran R, Wardell S, Gonzalez A, Hwu P. Specific lymphocyte subsets predict response to adoptive cell therapy using expanded autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in metastatic melanoma patients. Clin Cancer Res 18(24):6758-70, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23032743.
- Yang Y, Liu C, Peng W, Lizée G, Overwijk WW, Liu Y, Woodman SE, Hwu P. Anti-tumor T cell responses contribute to the effects of dasatinib on c-KIT mutant murine mastocytoma and are potentiated by anti-OX40. Blood 120(23):4533-43, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22936666.
- Zhang M, Sukhumalchandra P, Enyenihi A, St John LS, Hunsucker SA, Mittendorf EA, Sergeeva A, Ruisaard K, Al-Atrache Z, Ropp PA, Jakher H, Rodriguez-Cruz T, Lizée G, Clise-Dwyer K, Lu S, Molldrem JJ, Glish GL, Armistead PM, Alatrash G. A Novel HLA-A*0201 Restricted Peptide Derived From Cathepsin G Is An Effective Immunotherapeutic Target in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Clin Cancer Res. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23147993.
- Khalili JS, Liu S, Rodriguez-Cruz TG, Whittington M, Wardell S, Liu C, Zhang M, Cooper ZA, Frederick DT, Li Y, Zhang M, Joseph RW, Bernatchez C, Ekmekcioglu S, Grimm E, Radvanyi LG, Davis RE, Davies MA, Wargo JA, Hwu P, Lizée G. Oncogenic BRAF(V600E) promotes stromal cell-mediated immunosuppression via induction of interleukin-1 in melanoma. Clin Cancer Res 18(19):5329-40, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22850568.
- Peng W, Liu C, Xu C, Lou Y, Chen J, Yang Y, Yagita H, Overwijk WW, Lizée G, Radvanyi L, Hwu P. PD-1 blockade enhances T cell migration to tumors by elevating IFN-y inducible chemokines. Cancer Res 72(20):5209-18, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22915761.
- Khalili JS, Yu X, Wang J, Hayes BC, Davies MA,Lizée G Esmaeli B, Woodman SE. Combination Small Molecule MEK and PI3K Inhibition Enhances Uveal Melanoma Cell Death in a Mutant GNAQ- and GNA11-Dependent Manner. Clin Cancer Res 18(16):4345-55, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22733540.
- Wu RC, Liu S, Chacon JA, Wu S, Li Y, Sukhumalchandra P, Murray JL, Molldrem JJ, Hwu P, Pircher H, Lizée G, Radvanyi LG. Detection and characterization of a novel subset of CD8+CD57+ T-cells in metastatic melanoma with an incompletely-differentiated phenotype. Clin Cancer Res 18(9):2465-77, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22307139.
- Alatrash G, Ono Y, Sergeeva A, Sukhumalchandra P, Zhang M, St John LS, Yang TH, Ruisaard K, Armistead PM, Mittendorf EA, He H, Qiao N, Rodriguez-Cruz T, Liang S, Clise-Dwyer K, Wieder ED, Lizée G, Lu S, Molldrem JJ. The role of antigen cross-presentation from leukemia blasts on immunity to the leukemia-associated antigen PR1. J Immunother 35(4):309-320, 2012. PMID: 22495388.
- Hong DS, Vence LM, Falchook GS, Radvanyi LG, Liu C, Goodman VL, Legos JJ, Blackman SC, Scamardo AT, Kurzrock R, Hwu P, , Lizée G. BRAF (V600) inhibitor GSK2118436 targeted inhibition of mutant BRAF in cancer patients does not impair overall immune competency. Clin Cancer Res 18(8):2326-35, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22355009.
- Liu C, Lewis CM, Lou Y, Xu C, Peng W, Yang Y, Gelbard AH,Lizée G, Zhou D, Overwijk WW, Hwu P. Agonistic antibody to CD40 boosts the antitumor activity of adoptively transferred T cells in vivo. J Immunother 35(3):276-82, 2012. PMID: 22421945.
- Qin Y, Ekmekcioglu S, Liu P, Duncan LM, Lizée G, Poindexter N, Grimm EA. Constitutive aberrant endogenous interleukin-1 facilitates inflammation and growth in human melanoma. Mol Cancer Res 9(11):1537-50, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21954434.
- Lou Y, Liu C,Lizee G, Peng W, Xu C, Ye Y, Rabinovich BA, Hailemichael Y, Gelbard A, Zhou D, Overwijk WW, Hwu P. Antitumor activity mediated by CpG: the route of administration is critical. J Immunother 34(3):279-88, 2011. PMID: 21389870.
- Rodriguez-Cruz TG, Liu S, Khalili JS, Whittington M, Zhang M, Overwijk W, Lizée G. Natural splice variant of MHC class I cytoplasmic tail enhances dendritic cell-induced CD8 T-cell responses and boosts anti-tumor immunity. PLoS One 6(8):e22939, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21860662.
- Peng W, Ye Y, Rabinovich BA, Liu C, Lou Y, Zhang M, Whittington M, Yang Y, Overwijk WW, Lizée G, Hwu P. Transduction of tumor-specific T cells with CXCR2 chemokine receptor improves migration to tumor and antitumor immune responses. Clin Cancer Res 16(22):5458-68, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20889916.
- Liu S, Etto T, Rodríguez-Cruz T, Li Y, Wu C, Fulbright OJ, Hwu P, Radvanyi L, Lizée G. TGF-beta1 induces preferential rapid expansion and persistence of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells for adoptive immunotherapy. J Immunother 33(4):371-81, 2010. PMID: 20386469.
- Hwang CS, Prieto VG, Diwan AH, Lizée G, Ellerhorst JA, Ekmekcioglu S, Liu P, Eton O, Kinney SA, Grimm EA, Hwu P, Kim KB. Changes in pERK1/2 and pAKT expression in melanoma lesions after imatinib treatment. Melanoma Res 18(4):241-5, 2008. PMID: 18626307.
- Liu C, Lou Y, Lizée G, Qin H, Liu S, Rabinovich B, Kim GJ, Wang YH, Ye Y, Sikora AG, Overwijk WW, Liu YJ, Wang G, Hwu P. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells induce NK cell-dependent, tumor antigen-specific T cell cross-priming and tumor regression in mice. J Clin Invest 118(3):1165-75, 2008. e-Pub 2008. PMID: 18259609.
- Lee ST, Liu S, Radvanyi L, Sukhumalchandra P, Molldrem JJ, Wieder ED, Hwu P, Liu YJ, Kwak LW, Neelapu SS, Lizée G. A novel strategy for rapid and efficient isolation of human tumor-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell clones. J Immunol Methods 331(1-2):13-26, 2008. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17959194.
- Basha G, Lizée G, Reinicke AT, Seipp RP, Omilusik KD, Jefferies WA. MHC class I endosomal and lysosomal trafficking coincides with exogenous antigen loading in dendritic cells. PLoS One 3(9):e3247, 2008. PMID: 18802471.
- Zhu K, Qin H, Cha SC, Neelapu SS, Overwijk W, Lizée G, Abbruzzese JL, Hwu P, Radvanyi L, Kwak LW, Chang DZ. Survivin DNA vaccine generated specific antitumor effects in pancreatic carcinoma and lymphoma mouse models. Vaccine 14;25(46)(46):7955-61, 2007. PMID: 17933439.
- Liu S, Lizée G, Lou Y, Liu C, Overwijk WW, Wang G, Hwu P. IL-21 synergizes with IL-7 to augment expansion and anti-tumor function of cytotoxic T cells. Int Immunol 19(10):1213-21, 2007. PMID: 17898044.
- Lizée G, Cantu MA, Hwu P. Less Yin, More Yang: Confronting the barriers to cancer immunotherapy. Clin Cancer Res 13(18)(18 Pt 1):5250-5, 2007. PMID: 17875752.
- Zhu K, Lizée G, Cano P, Fernando-Vina M, Ji B, Abbruzzese JL, Hwu P, Radvanyi L, Chang DZ. HLA-A0201 positive pancreatic cell lines: new findings and discrepancies. Cancer Immunol Immun 56(5)(5):719-24, 2007. e-Pub 2006. PMID: 16947023.
- Grover A, Kim GJ, Lizée G, Tschoi M, Wang G, Wunderlich JR, Rosenberg SA, Hwang ST, Hwu P. Intralymphatic dendritic cell vaccination induces tumor antigen-specific, skin-homing T lymphocytes. Clin Cancer Res 12(19)(19):5801-8, 2006. PMID: 17020987.
- Lizée G, Radvanyi LG, Overwijk WW, Hwu P. Improving antitumor immune responses by circumventing immunoregulatory cells and mechanisms. Clin Cancer Res 12(16)(16):4794-803, 2006. PMID: 16914564.
- Lizée G, Radvanyi LG, Overwijk WW, Hwu P. Immunosuppression in melanoma immunotherapy: potential opportunities for intervention. Clin Cancer Res 12(7 Pt 2)(7 Pt 2):2359s-2365s, 2006. PMID: 16609059.
- Lizée G, Basha G, Jefferies WA. Tails of wonder: endocytic-sorting motifs key for exogenous antigen presentation. Trends Immunol 26(3):141-9, 2005. PMID: 15745856.
- Lou Y, Wang G, Lizée G, Kim GJ, Finkelstein SE, Feng C, Restifo NP, Hwu P. Dendritic cells strongly boost the antitumor activity of adoptively transferred T cells in vivo. Cancer Res 64(18)(18):6783-90, 2004. PMID: 15374997.
- Lizée G, Gonzales MI, Topalian SL. Lentivirus vector-mediated expression of tumor-associated epitopes by human antigen presenting cells. Hum Gene Ther 15(4):393-404, 2004. PMID: 15053864.
- Lizée G, Sharkey MS, Gonzales MI, Patel S, Topalian SL. CD4(+) T-cell recognition of mutated B-RAF in melanoma patients harboring the V599E mutation. Cancer Res 64(5)(5):1595-9, 2004. PMID: 14996715.
- Lizée G, Basha G, Tiong J, Julien JP, Tian M, Biron KE, Jefferies WA. Control of dendritic cell cross-presentation by the major histocompatibility complex class I cytoplasmic domain. Nat Immunol 4(11)(11):1065-73, 2003. PMID: 14566337.
- Lizée G, Aerts JL, Gonzales MI, Chinnasamy N, Morgan RA, Topalian SL. Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction as a method for determining lentiviral vector titers and measuring transgene expression. Hum Gene Ther 14(6):497-507, 2003. PMID: 12718761.
Book Chapters
- Hwu P, Lizee G, Liu, Y.J.. Cancer and the Cellular Immune Response. In: In: The Molecular Basis of Cancer. Saunders Elsevier: Philadelphia, PA, 2015.
- Lizée G, Gilliet M. Dendritic Cells in Cancer. In: Innate Immune Regulation and Cancer Immunotherapy. Springer Science: New York, 121-146, 2012.
- Kennard ML, Lizée G, and Jefferies WA. GPI-anchored fusion proteins. In: Methods in Biotechnology. Humana Press: PA, 187-200, 1998.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Induction of an Antitumor Immune Response in Patients with Melanoma Using the Antimicrobial Peptide LL37 (Project 1) |
| Funding Source: | NCI/NIH |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Activation of Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells (pDCs) to Induce Antitumor Immunity |
| Funding Source: | NCI |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | Mechanisms of PD-1 Ligand Induction and its Prognostic Significance in Melanoma |
| Funding Source: | NIH |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Determining the Role of MAPK Pathway Activation in the Induction of Melanoma Immune Suppression |
| Funding Source: | CPRIT |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Using the MHC class I cytoplasmic tail to control tumor Ag presentation by DCs |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Augmenting T-cell Based Melanoma Immunotherapy by Targeting Oncogenic BRAF |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Identifying Novel Tumor Antigens in Uveal Melanoma |
| Funding Source: | SPORE DRP |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Development of Immunotherapies for Pancreatic Cancer Patients |
| Funding Source: | Pancreatic Cancer Moonshot |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Development of Personalized Cancer Vaccines |
| Funding Source: | MDACC Moon Shot |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Lung Cancer Moon Shot Program |
| Funding Source: | MDACC Moon Shot |
| Role: | Principal Investigator-MDACC |
| Title: | Melanoma SPORE Research Development Award |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Large-Scale Structural Modeling of Peptide-HLA Complexes Presenting Tumor-Derived Epitopes |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Therapeutic approaches for LKB1-deficient non-small cell lung cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot Program, Immunotherapy Flagship |
| Funding Source: | MDACC |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Colorectal Cancer Moon Shot Program, Immunotherapy Flagship Project |
| Funding Source: | MDACC |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Structure Based selection of Tumor Antigens for T-Cell Based Immunotherapy |
| Funding Source: | William Marsh Rice University |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Imaging and Molecular Correlates of Progression in Cystic Neoplasms of the Pancreas |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Determining the Nature, Immunogenicity and Oncogenic KRAS-dependent Features of the Pancreatic Cancer HLA Class I Immunopeptidome |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Identification of Personalized Tumor-Associated Peptide Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy Through Integration of Proteomic and Next Generation Genetic Sequencing Data |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center SPORE in Melanoma |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Project Co-Leader |
| Title: | P1-Personalized Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Colorectal Cancer |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Project Leader |
| Title: | Identification and Assessment on Non-canonical Tumor-Associated Antigens as Shared Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Characterizing Cancer Genome Instability and Translational Impact Using New Sequencing Technologies |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Development of Personalized Cancer Vaccines for Smoldering Myeloma |
| Funding Source: | Andelson Foundation |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Translational Collaborative Studies in an Animal Model of Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasia |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | MD Anderson Cancer Center SPORE in Gastrointestinal Cancer (Project 1) |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Rationale Development of Immune Therapy for Low-Grade Ovarian Serous Carcinomas to Overcome MEK Inhibitor Resistance |
| Funding Source: | Department of Defense |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | Immunotherapeutic Targeting of SLC45A2 for Treatment of Uveal Melanoma |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | Structural Modeling of Peptide-HLA Complexes Presenting a Melanoma-associated Antigen for Cross-reactivity Assessment |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Longitudinal Therapeutic Monitoring of Colorectal Cancer Patients Using Exosome-based Liquid Biopsies |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | Identification and Assessment of non-canonical Tumor-associated Antigens as Shared Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Elucidating aberrant splicing-induced immune pathway activation in RBM10-deficient KRAS-mutant NSCLC and harnessing its potential for precision immunotherapy |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Development of TCR-Based Immunotherapy Targeting Hotspot EGFR Mutations for the Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Structural Modeling of Peptide-HLA Complexes to Improve Immunogenicity of Tumor-Associated Neoantigen Targets |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Development of an Integrated Structural Analysis Toolkit for Studying Protein-Ligand Interactions for Cancer Research |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Tumor Antigenic Peptide Profiling for Patient Selection in T Cell-Mediated Immunotherapies |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | PROTEAN-CR: Proteomics Toolkit for Ensemble Analysis in Cancer Research |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Single Cell Multi-omics Profiling and Immunotherapeutic Strategies in Myeloma |
| Funding Source: | Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson |
| Role: | Collaborator |
| Title: | Targeting EGFR neoantigens by combining peptide vaccination with Osimertinib for treatment of NSCLC |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified June 10, 2024