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Patrick Hwu, M.D.

Present Title & Affiliation

Primary Appointment

Department Chair, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Bio Statement

 

Dr. Patrick Hwu is considered one of the leading tumor immunologists in the country, and a primary force in the development of novel vaccine and adoptive T-cell therapies. His laboratory and clinical work have led to insights and advances in the understanding of the interactions between tumors and the immune system, and the development of cellular immunotherapies. He was recruited to be the first Chairman of the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology in 2003. Since that time, he has also served as Associate Director of the Center for Cancer Immunology Research and is the current Chair of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Promotion and Tenure Committee. His laboratory is significantly funded by the National Cancer Institutes. He is the principal investigator on three RO1 translational immunotherapy grants, as well as a P01 comprehensive program grant that is investigating the use of plasmacytoid dendritic cells to enhance immunotherapy. Dr. Hwu is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Immunotherapy. He is a frequently requested national and international lecturer. He has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles.  Dr. Hwu is the recipient of numerous awards such as the George and Barbara Bush Endowment for Innovative Cancer Research in 2004, the Robert R. Herring Professorship in Clinical Research 2004 – 2007, the Moshe Talpaz Endowed Chair in Immunology from 2007 to present, and the Division of Cancer Medicine Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Mentor of the Year for FY2009, just to name a few.

Research Interests

 

Cancer Vaccines, Tumor Immunotherapy and Cancer Immunology

 

Significant advances in our understanding of the immune response against cancer have allowed us to design novel immune therapies for patients. My laboratory is focused on the translation of basic immunologic concepts from the laboratory to the clinic. We have found that some patients with metastatic cancer can be successfully treated with infusions of tumor-reactive T -cells. We are currently investigating methods to improve these therapies, by studying T-cell proliferation, survival, and trafficking using both murine models and human T -cells.

Office Address

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Administrative Office
Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology
1515 Holcombe Blvd
Unit Number: 430
Houston, TX 77030
Room Number: FC11.2048
Phone: 713-563-1728
Fax: 713-745-1046
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Research Office
Melanoma Medical Oncology - Research
7455 Fannin Street
Unit Number: 904
Houston, TX 77054
Room Number: 1SCR2.3023

Education & Training

Degree-Granting Education

1987 The Medical College of Pennsylvania (MCP), Philadelphia, PA, MD, Magna Cum Laude, Medicine
1983 Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, BA, Summa Cum Laude, Premedical Science

Postgraduate Training

1989-1993 Fellowship, Medical Oncology and Immunology, National Cancer Institutes, Bethesda, MD
1987-1989 House Officer, Internal Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

Board Certifications

10/2008 Medical Oncology, 1st issued 12/1993, renewed

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Original Research Articles
1. Papadopoulos NE, Bedikian A, Ring S, Kim KB, Hwu WJ, Gerber DL, Homsi J, Hwu P. Phase I/II Study of a Cisplatin-Taxol-Dacarbazine Regimen in Metastatic Melanoma. Am J Clin Oncol. 32(6), 12/2009. e-Pub 6/2009. PMID: 19506454.
2. Sikora AG, Jaffarzad N, Hailemichaeal Y, Gelbard A, Stonier SW, Schluns KS, Frasca L, Lou Y, Liu C, Andersson HA, Hwu P, Overwijk WW. IFN-alpha enhances peptide vaccine-induced CD8+ T cell numbers, effector function, and antitumor activity. J Immunol 182(12):7398-7407, 2009 Jun 15, 6/2009. PMID: 19494262.
3. Quintás-Cardama A, Lazar AJ, Woodman SE, Kim K, Ross M, Hwu P. Complete response of stage IV anal mucosal melanoma expressing KIT Val560Asp to the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib. Nat Clin Pract Oncol 5(12):737-40, 2008 Dec, 12/2008. e-Pub 10/2008. PMID: 18936790.
4. Rabinovich BA, Ye Y, Etto T, Chen JQ, Levitsky HI, Overwijk WW, Cooper LJN, Gelovani J, Hwu P. Visualizing fewer than 10 mouse T cells with an enhanced firefly luciferase in immunocompetent mouse models of cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci 105(38):14342-6, 2008 Sept 23, 9/2008. PMID: 18794521.
5. Hwang CS, Prieto VG, Diwan AH, Lizee 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, 8/2008. PMID: 18626307.
6. Bedikian AY, Johnson MM, Warneke CL, Papadopoulous NE, Kim K, Hwu WJ, McIntyre S, Hwu P. Prognostic factors that determine the long-term survival of patients with unresectable metastatic melanoma. Cancer Invest 26(6):624-33, 8/2008. e-Pub 7/2008. PMID: 18584354.
7. Bedikian AY, Johnson MM, Warneke CL, McIntyre S, Papadopoulos N, Hwu WJ, Kim K, Hwu P. Systemic therapy for unresectable metastatic melanoma: impact of biochemotherapy on long-term survival. J Immunotoxicol 5(2):201-7, 4/2008. PMID: 18569391.
8. Liu C, Lou Y, Lizee 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, 3/2008. PMID: 18259609.
9. Lee ST, Liu S, Radvanyi L, Sukhumalchandra P, Molldrem JJ, Wieder ED, Hwu P, Liu YJ, Kwak LW, Lizee G, Neelapu SS. 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, Feb 29, 2008, 2/2008. e-Pub 11/2007. PMID: 17959194.
10. Zhu K, Qin H, Cha SC, Neelapu SS, Overwijk W, Lizee GA, 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 25(46):7955-61, 11/2007. e-Pub 9/2007. PMID: 17933439.
11. Liu S, Lizee G, Lou YY, Liu C, Overwijk WW, Wang G, Hwu P. IL-21 synergizes with IL-7 to augment expansion and antitumor function of cytotoxic T cells. International Immunology 19(10):1213-21, 10/2007. PMID: 17898044.
12. Murphy A, Westwood JA, Brown LE, Teng MW, Moeller M, Xu Y, Smyth MJ, Hwu P, Darcy PK, Kershaw MH. Antitumor activity of dual-specific T cells and influenza virus. Cancer Gene Ther 14:499-508, 3/2007. PMID: 17332777.
13. Leslie MC, Zhao YJ, Lachman LB, Hwu P, Bar-Eli M. Immunization against MUC18/MCAM, a novel antigen that drives melanoma invasion and metastasis. Gene Ther 14:316-23, 2/2007. PMID: 17024104.
14. Lou Y, Liu C, Kim GJ, Liu YJ, Hwu P, Wang G. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells synergize with myeloid dendritic cells in the induction of antigen-specific antitumor immune responses (author Wang and Hwu equal contribution). J Immunol 178:1534-41, 2/2007. PMID: 17237402.
15. Kershaw MH, Westwood JA, Parker LL, Wang G, Eshhar Z, Mavroukakis SA, White DE, Wunderlich JR, Canevari S, Rogers-Freezer L, Chen CC, Yang JC, Rosenberg SA, Hwu P. A phase I study on adoptive immunotherapy using gene-modified T cells for ovarian cancer. Clin Cancer Res 12:6106-15, 10/2006. PMID: 17062687.
16. Grover A, Kim GJ, Lizee 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 12:5801-8, 10/2006. PMID: 17020987.
17. Ballo MT, Ross MI, Cormier JN, Myers JN, Lee JE, Gershenwald JE, Hwu P, Zagars GK. Combined-modality therapy for patients with regional nodal metastases from melanoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 64:106-13, 1/2006. PMID: 16182463.
18. Ozaki K, Spolski R, Ettinger R, Kim HP, Wang G, Qi CF, Hwu P, Shaffer DJ, Akilesh S, Roopenian DC, Morse HC 3rd, Lipsky PE, Leonard WJ. Regulation of B cell differentiation and plasma cell generation by IL-21, a novel inducer of Blimp-1 and Bcl-6. J Immunol 1;173:5361-71, 11/2004. PMID: 15494482.
19. Lou Y, Wang G, Lizee 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 64:6783-90, 9/2004. PMID: 15374997.
20. Wang G, Tschoi M, Spolski R, Lou Y, Ozaki K, Feng C, Kim G, Leonard WJ, Hwu P. In vivo antitumor activity of interleukin 21 mediated by natural killer cells. Cancer Res 63:9016-22, 12/2003. PMID: 14695220.
21. Phan GQ, Yang JC, Sherry RM, Hwu P, Topalian SL, Schwartzentruber DJ, Restifo NP, Haworth LR, Seipp CA, Freezer LJ, Morton KE, Mavroukakis SA, Duray PH, Steinberg SM, Allison JP, Davis TA, Rosenberg SA. Cancer regression and autoimmunity induced by cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 blockade in patients with metastatic melanoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100:8372-7, 7/2003. PMID: 12826605.
22. Lapointe R, Bellemare-Pelletier A, Housseau F, Thibodeau J, Hwu P. CD40-stimulated B lymphocytes pulsed with tumor antigens are effective antigen-presenting cells that can generate specific T cells. Cancer Res 63:2836-43, 6/2003. PMID: 12782589.
23. Kershaw MH, Westwood JA, Hwu P. Dual-specific T cells combine proliferation and antitumor activity. Nat Biotechnol 20(12):1221-7, 12/2002. PMID: 12415288.
24. Kershaw MH, Wang G, Westwood JA, Pachynski RK, Tiffany HL, Marincola FM, Wang E, Young HA, Murphy PM, Hwu P. Redirecting migration of T cells to chemokine secreted from tumors by genetic modification with CXCR2. Hum Gene Ther 13(16):1971-80, 11/2002. PMID: 12427307.
25. Dudley ME, Wunderlich JR, Robbins PF, Yang JC, Hwu P, Schwartzentruber DJ, Topalian SL, Sherry R, Restifo NP, Hubicki AM, Robinson MR, Raffeld M, Duray P, Seipp CA, Rogers-Freezer L, Morton KE, Mavroukakis SA, White DE, Rosenberg SA. Cancer regression and autoimmunity in patients after clonal repopulation with antitumor lymphocytes. Science 298(5594):850-4, 10/2002. PMID: 12242449.
26. Wang HY, Fu T, Wang G, Zeng G, Perry-Lalley DM, Yang JC, Restifo NP, Hwu P, Wang RF. Induction of CD4(+) T cell-dependent antitumor immunity by TAT-mediated tumor antigen delivery into dendritic cells for generation of potent antitumor immunity. J Clin Invest 109(11):1463-70, 6/2002. PMID: 12045260.
27. Kershaw MH, Hsu C, Mondesire W, Parker LL, Wang G, Overwijk WW, Lapointe R, Yang JC, Wang RF, Restifo NP, Hwu P. Immunization against endogenous retroviral tumor-associated antigens. Cancer Res 61(21):7920-4, 11/2001. PMID: 11691813.
28. Lapointe R, Royal RE, Reeves ME, Altomare I, Robbins PF, Hwu P. Retrovirally transduced human dendritic cells can generate T cells recognizing multiple MHC class I and class II epitopes from the melanoma antigen glycoprotein 100. J Immunology 167:4758-64, 10/2001. PMID: 11591807.
29. Kershaw MH, Westwood JA, Zhu Z, Witte L, Libutti SK, Hwu P. Generation of gene-modified T cells reactive against the angiogenic kinase insert domain-containing receptor (KDR) found on tumor vasculature. Hum Gene Ther 11(18):2445-52, 12/2000. PMID: 11119416.
30. Lapointe R, Toso JF, Butts C, Young HA, Hwu P. Human dendritic cells require multiple activation signals for the efficient generation of tumor antigen-specific T lymphocytes. Eur J Immunol 30(11):3291-8, 11/2000. PMID: 11093145.
31. Chinnasamy N, Chinnasamy D, Toso JF, Lapointe R, Candotti F, Morgan RA, Hwu P. Efficient gene transfer to human peripheral blood monocyte-derived dendritic cells using human immunodeficiency virus type 1-based lentiviral vectors. Hum Gene Ther 11(13):1901-9, 9/2000. PMID: 10986562.
32. Hwu P, Du MX, Lapointe R, Do M, Taylor MW, Young HA. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase production by human dendritic cells results in the inhibition of T cell proliferation. J Immunol 164(7):3596-9, 4/2000. PMID: 10725715.
33. Rosenberg SA, Yang JC, Schwartzentruber DJ, Hwu P, Marincola FM, Topalian SL, Restifo NP, Dudley ME, Schwarz SL, Spiess PJ, Wunderlich JR, Parkhurst MR, Kawakami Y, Seipp CA, Einhorn JH, White DE. Immunologic and therapeutic evaluation of a synthetic peptide vaccine for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. Nat Med 4:321-7, 3/1998. PMID: 9500606.
34. Wang G, Chopra RK, Royal RE, Yang JC, Rosenberg SA, Hwu P. A T-cell independent antitumor response in mice with bone marrow cells retrovirally transduced with an antibody/Fc-gamma chain chimeric receptor gene recognizing a human ovarian cancer antigen. Nat Med 4:168-72, 2/1998. PMID: 9461189.
35. Specht JM, Wang G, Do MT, Lam JS, Royal RE, Reeves ME, Rosenberg SA, Hwu P. Dendritic cells retrovirally transduced with a model antigen gene are therapeutically effective against established pulmonary metastases. J Exp Med 186:1213-21, 10/1997. PMID: 9334360.
36. Reeves ME, Royal RE, Lam JS, Rosenberg SA, Hwu P. Retroviral transduction of human dendritic cells with a tumor-associated antigen gene. Cancer Res 56:5672-7, 12/1996. PMID: 8971174.
37. Hwu P, Shafer GE, Treisman J, Schindler DG, Gross G, Cowherd R, Rosenberg SA, Eshhar Z. Lysis of ovarian cancer cells by human lymphocytes redirected with a chimeric gene composed of an antibody variable region and the Fc receptor gamma chain. J Exp Med 178:361-6, 7/1993. PMID: 8315392.
38. Hwu P, Yannelli J, Kriegler M, Anderson WF, Perez C, Chiang Y, Schwarz S, Cowherd R, Delgado C, Mule J, et al. Functional and molecular characterization of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes transduced with tumor necrosis factor-alpha cDNA for the gene therapy of cancer in humans. J Immunol 150:4104-15, 5/1993. PMID: 8473752.

Invited Articles
1. Lizee G, Cantu MA, Hwu P, Les Yin, More Yang. Confronting the barriers to cancer immunotherapy. Clin Cancer Res 13(18):5250-55, 9/2007. PMID: 17875752.
2. Lizee G, Radvanyi LG, Overwijk WW, Hwu P. Improving antitumor immune responses by circumventing immunoregulatory cells and mechanisms. Clin Cancer Res 15;12:4794-803, 8/2006. PMID: 16914564.
3. Lizee G, Radvanyi LG, Overwijk WW, Hwu P. Immunosuppression in melanoma immunotherapy: potential opportunities for intervention. Clinical Cancer Res 12:2359s-65s, 4/2006. PMID: 16609059.

Last updated: 9/21/2009