Deyu Fang, PhD
Professor, Pathology, Feinberg School of Medicine
Research Program
Cancer-Focused Research
The current application is to delineate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying USP22 (ubiquitinspecific peptidase 22) in Regulatory T (Treg) cell hemostasis and functions. Our preliminary data show that genetic USP22 suppression largely diminishes the suppressive functions without impairing and even enhances the conventional T cell immunity. A the major hurdle in tumor immunotherapy is the immunosuppression mediated by Treg cells, which function to modulate the immune system by suppressing the function of effector T (Teff) cells. However, current approaches in targeting Treg have only transient efficacy and are highly unspecific. The development of new ways to control Treg functions is essential to improving tumor immunotherapy. Therefore, together with the fact that USP22 functions as an oncogene and its suppression directly kills tumor cells, preliminary discovery indicate that USP22 is an ideal target, on one hand in directly killing tumor cells, and on the other hand enhancing the antitumor immunity.