Dr. Jill Slansky, Cancer Researcher

Associate Professor of Immunology,University of Colorado School of Medicine

Co-Leader, CU Cancer Center Immunology & Immunotherapy Program

Jill Slansky, PhD, is an associate professor in the Integrated Department of Immunology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her research interest is cancer immunology, and her lab, which has been active since January 2002, is located at National Jewish Health in  Denver. Slansky has been a member of the University of Colorado Cancer Center since 2003, and was recently appointed co-leader of CU Cancer Center’s Immunology & Immunotherapy Program.

C3: What is the primary goal of the Slansky lab?

Slansky: We would like to learn something new and valuable about the interaction between cancer and the immune system that will contribute to more effective cancer vaccines.

C3: What are the biggest challenges in this kind of work?

Slansky: Of course finding money to do this work is hard. But scientifically the hardest thing is getting our immune systems to recognize cancer as a foreign invader. Cancer is made of our own cells growing out of control, and our immune system does not generally see it as a disease to be eliminated. The focus of cancer vaccines is to improve this recognition.

C3: How far along are you in accomplishing what you want to accomplish?

Slansky: We have developed a promising model and technology in which we use peptide antigens to increase the response of immune system’s T-cells to cancer. Antigens are molecules that T-cells bind to.

C3: What kinds of tumors are you most focused on?

Slansky: In our current research, we mostly use cancer cells that came from a mouse colon tumor. We are determining ways to increase the T-cell response to treat this tumor and we hope to translate this response to higher mammals. We’re starting a new project that will examine the T-cell response to spontaneously occuring B-cell lymphomas in dogs. This disease is very similar to the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that people get.

C3: Your research involves stimulating T-cells to be more responsive to tumors. What stimulated you to become interested in cancer immunology?

Slansky: My pre-doctoral degree work was in molecular oncology, but when I was deciding on where to do my post-doctoral work, I saw a seminar on tumor vaccines. I was so excited by the talk, I knew I had to be a part of that effort.

C3: With whom do you collaborate most?

Slansky: Our most productive collaboration is with Dr. John Kappler here at National Jewish. We have been using and further developing a technology from his lab for tumor immunology. We are planning to use this technology in our dog lymphoma project and we will be collaborating with Dr. Barb Biller and Dr. Steve Dow from Colorado State University (also CU Cancer Center members). The dogs are part of a joint project with CSU’s Animal Cancer Center. The idea is to test the immunotherapies that we are developing in clinical trials in companion dogs. We have tested the immunotherapy in mice and it works, but we would like to test it in animals that get cancer spontaneously, like people do.

C3: Of the papers you have published, of which you are most proud, or which have been seminal in your career thus far?

Slansky: We [Jordan et al] published a paper in 2008 in the Journal of Immunology that described a new vaccine strategy. We showed we could stimulate tumor-specific T-cells in animal models of cancer using the technology. We will use this vaccine strategy for many future experiments and use it in the clinical trial in the dogs with lymphoma.

C3: Your lab’s staff includes a doctor of veterinary medicine as well as a medical doctor and pre-doctoral researchers. Is such diversity by design?

Slansky: Definitely. It’s important to have folks with different backgrounds for creativity, even though we’re all working toward the same goal. For example, it’s helpful to have a DVM on board in that some animals, such as dogs, have similar cancers as humans.