Gregoire Lauvau, Ph.D., and Wenjun Guo, Ph.D., have received a three-year, $2.5 million grant from the Department of Defense to determine how breast cancers suppress the body’s anti-tumor immune response. After generating mouse tumor models driven by the same gene mutations involved in human cancer, the researchers will study how these mutations alter and suppress the immune system and test potential therapeutic approaches.

The Einstein team will look specifically for the mechanisms by which mutations in the MLL3 gene lead to breast tumors that suppress the immune response. The researchers’ goals are to develop novel immunotherapies that can defeat MLL3-mutant-associated breast cancer by restoring the anti-tumor activity of immune cells.

Dr. Lauvau is professor of microbiology & immunology at Einstein. Dr. Guo is associate professor of cell biology and a member of the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Einstein. (W81XWH-21-1-0206 and W81XWH-21-0207)