Ferris Lab

Research focus

NIH R01 · 2025

Identifying cellular and molecular signatures from distinct T cell receptor clonotypes associated with favorable immune checkpoint inhibitor responses in HNSCCs

Project Summary/Abstract Cancer immunotherapy has become one of the pillar therapies in treating cancer patients, exemplified by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) (e.g., anti-PD1). While ICIs have significantly improved the prognosis of cancer patients, the response rate to ICI monotherapy remains low (10-20%) for many types of cancer, such as head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Some variability may be explained by human papillomavirus (HPV)- vs. carcinogen-induced, tumor antigen-specific T cell responses in HPV+ or HPV− HNSCC, reflecting a unique disease opportunity to investigate ICI responsiveness. Thus, it is vital to better understand the mechanisms underlying heterogenous…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.