Elliott Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Kristian M. Hargadon ’01 and two of his research students (Corey Williams ’19 and Coleman Johnson ’19) recently published a review article on cancer immunotherapy in the journal International Immunopharmacology. The article, entitled “Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy for Cancer: An Overview of FDA-approved Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors,” highlights the emerging field of checkpoint blockade therapy that has revolutionized the treatment of many cancer types in recent years. Designed to “release the brakes” that inherently limit the strength and duration of natural immune responses, checkpoint blockade therapy enables many patients to achieve long-term anti-tumor immune responses capable of eradicating their disease. An expert in tumor immunology. Dr. Hargadon was invited by editors of the journal to contribute an article on cancer immunotherapy, and he used this opportunity to engage two of his pre-medical research students in the analysis of clinical trial outcomes for immune checkpoint inhibitors. Corey Williams and Coleman Johnson have been doing melanoma research in Dr. Hargadon’s laboratory since the summer of 2017. Rising seniors, they will continue their work on factors that promote tumor immune evasion during their senior year. Both have already been accepted to Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine.

The Hargadon et al. article may be accessed here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1XJoR5aRFnNvyw

In addition to appearing in a regular issue of the journal, Dr. Hargadon’s article will also be featured in a Special Issue on “Cellular Therapeutics in the Context of Immunopharmacology.”