The results of a recent canine cancer study by Tim Fan (ACPP/CGD), a professor of veterinary clinical medicine, and former Illinois faculty member Dane Wittrup may have positive implications for future approaches to cancer immunotherapy.

Hua Wang (RBTE), a Materials Science and Engineering assistant professor, was recently awarded a 2.26M Research Project grant from the National Cancer Institute, which will support the development of type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1) targeted cancer vaccines and cytokine therapies through the integration of immune cell homing materials and metabolic glycan labeling.

Dr. Timothy Fan (ACPP), veterinary oncologist and professor at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and a Program Leader for the Cancer Center at Illinois, is leading two clinical trials using similar immunotherapies to treat dogs with malignant melanoma. The novel approaches, developed in partnership with cancer researchers based in Boston, have yielded encouraging results in canine patients, and human trials using the same therapeutic platforms are expected to begin in 2023.