John R. Ohlfest, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Departments of Pediatrics and Neurosurgery University of Minnesota, 2004, Ph.D. ohlfe001@umn.edu 612-626-2491 - office 612-624-1195 - lab

Research Interests:

Cancer Immunotherapy

The Ohlfest lab is focused on understanding the mechanisms of brain tumorogenesis and immune evasion, and translating these basic discoveries into improved gene therapy and immunotherapy. There are currently four projects being aggressively pursued.

* Toll-like receptor agonists as vaccine adjuvants
* Characterizing the phenotype of glioma stem cells using in vitro and in vivo models
* Nonviral and adenoviral vector targeting to tumor cells, employing immuno-gene therapy
* Transgenic and somatic cell gene transfer-based glioma models

Selected Recent Publications:

• Xiong Z, Gharagozlou S, Vengco I, Chen W and Ohlfest JR. 2008. Effective CpG Immunotherapy of Breast Carcinoma Prevents but Fails to Eradicate Established Brain Metastasis. 2007 Clinical Cancer Research (in press).
• Wu A, Oh S, Ericson K, Chen L, Hall WA, Champoux PE, Low WC, and Ohlfest JR. 2008. Persistence of CD133+ Cells in Human and Mouse Glioma Cell Lines: detailed characterization of GL261 glioma cells with cancer stem cell-like properties. Stem Cells and Development. Feb;17(1):173-84.
• Wu A, Oh S, Gharagozlou S, Vedi RN, Ericson K, Chen W, Low WC, and Ohlfest JR. 2007. In Vivo Vaccination with Tumor Cell Lysate plus CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides Eradicates Murine Glioblastoma. Journal of Immunotherapy.30:789-797.
• Wu A, Oh S, Ericson K, Demorest ZL, Vengco I, Gharagozlou S, Chen W,Low WC, and Ohlfest JR. 2007. Transposon-based Interferon Gamma Gene Transfer Overcomes Limitations of Episomal Plasmid for Immunogene Therapy of Glioblastoma. Cancer Gene Therapy. 14: 550-560.
• Oh S., G. Pluhar E.G., McNeil, E.A., Kroeger, K.M., Liu C., Castro M.G., Lowenstein P.R., Freese A., and Ohlfest, J.R.. 2007. Efficacy of Nonviral Gene Transfer into the Canine Brain. Journal of Neurosurgery107:136-144.
• Wu A., Xiao J., Chen W., Hall W.A., Low W.C., and Ohlfest J.R. 2007. Expression of MHC I and NK ligands on human CD133+ brain tumor cells: possible targets of immunotherapy. Journal of Neuro-oncology. 83(2): 121-31.
• Ohlfest, J.R., Freese, A.B., and Largaespada, D.A. Nonviral Vectors for Cancer Gene Therapy: Prospects for Integrating Vectors and Combination Therapies. Current Gene Therapy. 2005; Vol 5, No. 6, December.
• Ohlfest J.R., Demorest, Z.L., Mootoka, Y., Vengco, I., Oh, S., Chen, E., Scappaticci, F.A., Saplis, R.J., Ekker, S.E., Low, W.C., Freese, A.B., and Largaespada, D.A. 2005. Combinatorial antiangiogenic gene therapy by nonviral gene transfer using the sleeping beauty transposon causes tumor regression and improves survival in mice bearing intracranial human glioblastoma. Mol Ther. 12:778-788.
• Ohlfest, J. R., Frandsen, J. L., Fritz, S., Lobitz, P. D., Perkinson, S. G., Clark, K. J., Nelsestuen, G., Key, N. S., McIvor, R. S., Hackett, P. B., and Largaespada, D. A. 2005. Phenotypic correction and long-term expression of factor VIII in hemophilic mice by immunotolerization and nonviral gene transfer using the Sleeping Beauty transposon system. Blood. April 105(7):2691-8.
• Ohlfest, J.R., P.D. Lobitz, S.G. Perkinson and D.A. Largaespada 2004. Integration and long-term expression in xenografted human glioblastoma cells using a plasmid-based transposon system. Mol Ther. 10: 260-268.
  
  
  
  

Last modified on: February 28, 2008