Page 28 - Rappaport Institute Magazine 2024

IMMUNOLOGY
Ari Glasner, PhD Senior lecturer of Immunology
PhD, 2017 – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Immune stromal cellular networks in the tumor microenvironment
Our lab studies innate and adaptive host immune cell biology, function and communication in homeostatic as well as in pathological conditions such as in the Tumor Microenvironment (TME).
Cells of the immune system constantly monitor and eliminate cancer cells throughout the lifespan of an organism. Tumors, in turn, have developed various mechanisms to evade immune surveillance. State-of-the-art immunotherapies interfere with these mechanisms to facilitate immune cell-mediated eradication of tumor cells. However, while successful for some patients and certain types of cancer, immunotherapy efficacy is still limited. To improve treatments and overcome tumor evasion mechanisms, it is crucial to gain a deeper understanding of immune-tumor interactions.
We aim to comprehensively map the entire spectrum of interactions between immunocytes and the TME, which plays a crucial role in supporting the tumor, by identifying negative and positive tumor regulator programs, studying localization mediated effects, and mapping the genetic and epigenetic mediators that take part in the immune-TME interplay.
We screen potential candidates for targeted combination therapy in-vivo, and in a tumor slice culture system that allows testing in parallel mouse and human fresh tissues to uncover pro- and anti- tumor molecular mechanisms that could inform the creation of more effective combination immunotherapies.
Selected Publications
ˆ Glasner A*, Levi A*, Enk J, Isaacson B, ... Mandelboim O. NKp46 Receptor- Mediated Interferon-γ Production by Natural Killer Cells Increases Fibronectin
1 to Alter Tumor Architecture and Control Metastasis. Immunity. 2018 Feb 20;48(2):396-398. 189 citations. ^Featured in immunity news and views: PMID: 29343443 *equal co-authors.
ˆ van der Veeken J*, Glasner A*, Zhong Y*, ... Rudensky AY. The Transcription Factor Foxp3 Shapes Regulatory T Cell Identity by Tuning the Activity of trans- Acting Intermediaries. Immunity. 2020 Nov 17;53(5):971-984.e5. 61 citations. ^Featured in immunity news and views: PMID:33207211 *equal co-authors.
ˆ Glasner, A*., Rose*, S.A., Sharma, R*... Rudensky AY. Conserved transcriptional connectivity of regulatory T cells in the tumor microenvironment informs new combination cancer therapy strategies. Nat Immunol 2023 24, 1020–1035. 6 citation *equal co-authors. Collaboration with Dana Pe’er, MSKCC.
ari.glasner@technion.ac.il
Ari Glasner Lab
IF staining of mouse a mouse lung. NSCL tumor nodule and the indicated cell types - LYVE1
Foxp3 (GFP) GP38 DAPI