Tina Wu, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Currently researching the microenvironment of breast cancer, in order to develop new strategies of immunotherapy.

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About Tina Wu, Ph.D.

The human breast cancer microenvironment displays features of T helper 2 (Th2) immunity, which promotes tumor development. We showed that breast cancer cell-derived thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), by inducing OX40L expression on DCs, contributes to the Th2 immunity conducive to breast tumor development. In order to reprogram the inflammatory pro-tumor Th2 (iTh2) into anti-tumor Th1 microenvironment, we tested the impact of targeting the innate receptors on DCs to render the resistant to tumor environment. We show that intratumoral delivery of β-glucan, a natural ligand for dectin-1 expressed on DCs, blocks the generation of iTh2 cells leading to decreased IL-13 in the tumor microenvironment and prevents breast cancer development. β-glucan exposed DCs expand CD8+ T cells, which produce higher IFNg, Granzyme A and Granzyme B, accumulate in the tumors leading to enhanced tumor necrosis in vivo. Our data demonstrate that exploiting pattern-recognition receptors on tumor-infiltrating DCs enables cancer rejection. We are further exploring the ATACseq and RNAseq approach to understand the regulation of TSLP production in breast tumor cells and how TSLP alters the infiltrating DCs. It can be novel molecular biology approaches to decode tumor infiltrating DCs and T cells and define potential targets for immunotherapy.

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Press ReleaseSeptember 25, 2018
Brain cancer’s lethal differences: tracking extra DNA
Postdoctoral Associate Eunhee Yi has been awarded a $100,000 fellowship from the American Brain Tumor Association to discover how glioblastoma becomes so aggressive.
Research HighlightSeptember 13, 2018
Distinguishing the helpful from the harmful in the human microbiome
New JAX research offers insight into how our immune cells are able to tell the difference between helpful bacterial strains and potentially inflammatory or pathogenic strains.
Search MagazineSeptember 11, 2018
Non-coding DNA is not junk DNA
Assistant Professor Christine Beck, Ph.D., is uncovering how recurring sequences in our genomes might shed light on genome stability, as well as diseases like cancer.
Search MagazineAugust 14, 2018
Understanding our inheritance
To find out more about the complexities of inheritance, JAX spoke with author and New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer, who frequently writes about genetics and evolution.

Press ReleaseSeptember 21, 2018
New way to target advanced breast cancers
New research shows that a cytokine signature found in certain kinds of breast cancer cells can not only serve as a diagnostic tool for HER2-negative cancers but also offer an effective treatment target.
Research HighlightSeptember 11, 2018
Exploring zinc finger proteins
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded Petko Petkov a four-year grant totaling $1,385,337 to exploit the new methods he has developed to profile and investigate zinc finger proteins and their binding sites.
Press ReleaseSeptember 05, 2018
A better combination therapy for leukemias
A new approach to treating some leukemias could deliver a one-two punch to the cancer cells without harming normal tissue.
Press ReleaseAugust 01, 2018
$2M NIH Grant to Study Genetic Mechanisms of Inherited Heart Muscle Disorders
Travis Hinson, M.D., has received more than $2 million from the National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study the mechanisms responsible for a serious and often fatal heart condition.
- Cardiovascular
- Genetics and Genomics