The Immunomonitoring Laboratory (IML) provides cutting-edge technology platforms for the comprehensive immunophenotyping of blood and tissues. Our services allow investigators to monitor the impact of therapeutic interventions on immunologic profiles, interrogate mechanisms and pathways related to treatment protocols and advance the conceptual basis for targeted treatment strategies. We collaborate with scientists, clinicians and industry partners involved in clinical trials and discovery-based immunologic research.
Medical Director, Immunomonitoring Lab
Bioinformatics Technologist, Computational Immunology; Immunomonitoring Lab
husich@ccf.org
Expertise is available to help investigators select optimal immunophenotyping strategies including the type, design and feasibility of assays; the relevant time points needed; and amount of blood/tissue required. Project managers are available for large projects or clinical trials correlates research.
Our laboratory offers cost effective standardized and optimized procedures for blood and tumor tissue processing. We continuously monitor our procedures to ensure consistent yield of viable cell products. We also offer assistance with paraffin tissue block selection and retrieval, and assay-specific processing.
In collaboration with the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Cental Biorepository, we offer acquisition, barcoding and controlled storage of procured samples and/or cell products. We utilize the scientific data management system LabVantage® for biospecimen annotation, report generation and quality control with ensured compliance with regulatory standards.
We offer highly specialized technologies to analyze both cellular and soluble biomarkers, including high-parameter flow cytometry (BD FACSymphony®) and cell sorting, advanced proteomics platforms (Meso Scale Discovery [MSD]; Olink Proteomics); as well as a myriad of functional immune assays (T cell activation assays, T cell suppression assays, ELISPOT, intracellular cytokine analysis, etc.).
Tumor circling and purity quantification, as well as conventional and special slide stains will be available. In collaboration with the LRI Imaging Core, investigators will be able to visualize, analyze and quantify the cellular components of the tumor microenvironent by multiplex immunocytochemistry, as well as by multispectral imaging on the Vectra Polaris®.
The IML is a central component of the Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-Oncology (CITI). In addition to offering immunophenotyping resources, CITI also has an in-house computational team and technology development team (Discovery Lab). These state-of-the-art resources are available to enhance IML-based immunophenotyping at scale.
Sheng IY, Diaz-Montero CM, Rayman P, et al. Blood Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Correlate with Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio and Overall Survival in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma. Target Oncol. 2020;15(2):211-220. doi:10.1007/s11523-020-00707-z
Fallah J, Diaz-Montero CM, Rayman P, et al. Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells in Nonmetastatic Urothelial Carcinoma of Bladder Is Associated With Pathologic Complete Response and Overall Survival [published online ahead of print, 2020 Mar 19]. Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2020;S1558-7673(20)30053-7. doi:10.1016/j.clgc.2020.03.004
Tannenbaum CS, Rayman PA, Pavicic PG, et al. Mediators of Inflammation-Driven Expansion, Trafficking, and Function of Tumor-Infiltrating MDSCs. Cancer Immunol Res. 2019;7(10):1687-1699. doi:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-18-0578
Pfannenstiel LW, Diaz-Montero CM, Tian YF, Scharpf J, Ko JS, Gastman BR. Immune-Checkpoint Blockade Opposes CD8+ T-cell Suppression in Human and Murine Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2019;7(3):510-525. doi:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-18-0054
Tzeng A, Diaz-Montero CM, Rayman PA, et al. Immunological Correlates of Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Metastatic Urothelial Carcinoma. Target Oncol. 2018;13(5):599-609. doi:10.1007/s11523-018-0595-9
Zahoor H, Pavicic PG Jr, Przybycin C, et al. Evaluation of T cell infiltration in matched biopsy and nephrectomy samples in renal cell carcinoma. Medicine (Baltimore). 2018;97(37):e12344. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000012344
Ornstein MC, Diaz-Montero CM, Rayman P, et al. Myeloid-derived suppressors cells (MDSC) correlate with clinicopathologic factors and pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with urothelial carcinoma (UC) undergoing cystectomy. Urol Oncol. 2018;36(9):405-412. doi:10.1016/j.urolonc.2018.02.018
Najjar YG, Rayman P, Jia X, et al. Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cell Subset Accumulation in Renal Cell Carcinoma Parenchyma Is Associated with Intratumoral Expression of IL1β, IL8, CXCL5, and Mip-1α. Clin Cancer Res. 2017;23(9):2346-2355. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-15-1823