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.

• Pennell, C.A. and Erickson, H.A. 2001. Designing immunotoxins for cancer therapy. Immunologic Res. 24(1-2):315-329.

• 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.

• Search PubMed for Pennell CA

Last modified on: February 25, 2003