Hanyang University · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Professor Chae-Ok Yun's research lab specializes in cancer immunotherapy, focusing on the development of oncolytic adenoviruses as multifunctional platforms to enhance antitumor immune responses. The lab pioneers gene-based strategies that co-deliver immune-stimulating molecules such as IL-12, IL-18, 4-1BBL, and GM-CSF to activate T cells and natural killer cells, while overcoming immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments. A key focus is combining oncolytic virotherapy with immunogenic cell death inducers and dendritic cell vaccination to amplify systemic antitumor immunity. The lab also explores novel synthetic polypeptides that trigger immunogenic cell death through ER stress and mitochondrial disruption.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
RNA interference is being developed to treat cancer. Although highly target specific, its use has been limited by its short duration of expression. To overcome this shortcoming, we constructed an oncolytic adenovirus (Ad)-based short hairpin RNA (shRNA) expression system (Ad-DeltaB7-shVEGF) against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a key mediator in angiogenesis. To demonstrate the VEGF-specific nature of this Ad-based shRNA, replication-incompetent Ad expressing VEGF-specific shRNA (Ad
Recently, gene-based cytokine treatment has been actively pursued as a new promising approach in treating cancer. In an effort to augment the efficiency of antitumor effect by cytokine-mediated immunotherapy, we selected both interleukin (IL)-12 and 4-1BB ligand (4-1BBL) as suitable cytokines to fully activate the type-1 immune response. Coexpression of IL-12 and 4-1BBL mediated by oncolytic adenovirus (Ad) greatly enhanced the antitumor effect. Further, synergistic enhancement in interferon (IF
The oncolytic adenovirus (Ad) is currently being advanced as a promising antitumor remedy as it selectively replicates in tumor cells and can transfer and amplify therapeutic genes. Interleukin (IL)-12 induces a potent antitumor effect by promoting natural killer (NK) cell and cytotoxic T cell activities. IL-18 also augments cytotoxicity of NK cells and proliferation of T cells. This effect further enhances the function of IL-12 in a synergistic manner. Therefore, we investigated for the first t
Immuno-oncology (IO) has been an active area of oncology research. Following US FDA approval of the first immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), ipilimumab (human IgG1 k anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody), in 2011, and of the first oncolytic virus, Imlygic (talimogene laherparepvec), in 2015, there has been renewed interest in IO. In the past decade, ICIs have changed the treatment paradigm for many cancers by enabling better therapeutic control, resuming immune surveillance, suppressing tumor immunos
Dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccination is a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapy. However, clinical trials have indicated that immunosuppressive microenvironments induced by tumors profoundly suppress antitumor immunity and inhibit vaccine efficacy, resulting in insufficient reduction of tumor burdens. To overcome these obstacles and enhance the efficiency of DC vaccination, we generated interleukin (IL)-12- and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)-coexpressing oncolyt
Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is distinguished by the release of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) and danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). This cell death has been studied in the field of cancer immunotherapy due to the ability of ICD to induce antitumor immunity. Herein, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated ICD inducing fluorinated mitochondria-disrupting helical polypeptides (MDHPs) are reported. The fluorination of the polypeptide provides a high helical structure and potent ant
Mortalin/mtHsp70 is a member of Hsp70 family of proteins. Enriched in a large variety of cancers, it has been shown to contribute to the process of carcinogenesis by multiple ways including inactivation of tumor suppressor p53 protein, deregulation of apoptosis and activation of EMT signaling. In this study, we report that upregulation of mortalin contributes to cancer cell stemness. Several cancer cell stemness markers, such as ABCG2, OCT-4, CD133, ALDH1, CD9, MRP1 and connexin were upregulated
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