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Christopher A. Pennell,
Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1984,
Ph.D.
penne001@tc.umn.edu
612-625-7138 office
612-625-0453 lab
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Research Interests:
Tumor immunology and immunotherapy, molecular immunology
The major goal of my research is to devise novel immune-based
strategies for cancer therapy. Currently we are focusing on
two approaches. One is to create "magic bullets" by genetically
attaching potent toxins to antibody fragments. The resultant
immunotoxins are designed to kill tumor cells selectively
due to the ability of the antibody fragments to bind tumors
and target them for death via the action of the attached toxin.
Our long-term goal is to bring the most promising immunotoxin
to clinical trials. The other strategy is the development
of cancer vaccines. These vaccines contain small tumor-associated
peptides that can be recognized by the immune system, along
with other proteins that help initiate a potent anti-tumor
immune response. So our vaccines have a one-two punch: they
both efficiently deliver tumor-associated peptides to the
immune system and activate tumor-specific immune effector
cells. We are using mouse models to understand how these vaccines
work at the molecular and cellular levels, and human systems
to identify potent vaccines for the treatment of diseases
such as breast cancer.
Selected Recent Publications:
- Pennell, C.A. and Pauza, M.E. 2001. CD7-specific single
chain Fv-immunotoxins: design, expression, and function.
In Immunotoxin
Methods and Protocols, W. A. Hall, ed. (Humana Press,
Inc., Totowa, NJ) pp 17-29.
- Lindstrom, A., and Pennell, C.A. 2001. In vitro studies
of ricin A chain induced vascular leak syndrome In Immunotoxin
Methods and Protocols, W. A. Hall, ed. (Humana Press,
Inc., Totowa, NJ) pp 125-135.
- Erickson, H.A., Reinhardt, R.L, Hermanson, J.B., Panoskaltsis-Mortari,
A., and Pennell, C.A. 2001. Visualization of immunotoxin-mediated
tumor cell killing in vivo. Clin.
Cancer Res.
7(3S):890S-894S.
- Harmala, L.A.E., Ingulli, E.G., Curtsinger, J.M., Lucido,
M.M, Schmidt, C.S. Weigel, B.J., Blazar, B.R., Mescher,
M.F. and Pennell, C.A. 2002. The adjuvant effects of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis heat shock protein 70 result from the rapid
and prolonged activation of antigen- specific CD8+ T cells
in vivo. J.
Immunol. 169:5622-9.
- Foss DL, Bennaars AM, Pennell CA, Moody MD, Murtaugh MP.
2003. Differentiation of porcine dendritic cells by granulocyte-macrophage
colony-stimulating factor expressed in Pichia pastoris.
Vet
Immunol Immunopathol. 91(3-4):205-15.
Last modified on: February 25, 2003
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