Jinjun Shi

About Jinjun Shi

The immune system has the power to recognize and kill cells that are dangerous to host homeostasis. Vaccination against tumor antigens has appreciated limited success in inducing anti-tumor immune responses, and refinement of this methodology will create powerful new treatment approaches.

Dr. Jinjun Shi is developing a novel vaccination strategy for prostate cancer in which specialized nanoparticles with controlled-release capabilities will deliver RNA molecules that encode prostate cancer-associated antigens. Potent immune-activating adjuvants, will also be delivered to immune cells, in order to elicit anti-tumor immune responses.

These vaccines will be tested and optimized in prophylactic and therapeutic pre-clinical prostate cancer models.

If successful, this research will create a new method for immunizing patients against their own tumor and may lead to new treatments.

What this means for patients: The immune system has significant tumor-killing capabilities but becomes inactivated in cancer patients. This project will develop a new therapeutic strategy to vaccinate patients and elicit their immune system to target and kill tumor cells.