Contact Information
jmlang@medicine.wisc.edu
608-265-8131
7151 WI Institute Medical Research
Title
Professor of Medicine, Hematology-Oncology
Research Description
The Lang laboratory has two focus areas with the overarching goal of improving clinical outcomes of prostate cancer: translational biomarkers and epigenetic mechanisms of immune evasion. Dr. Lang’s early studies identified mechanisms by which epigenetic modifying agents could improve immune recognition of tumor cells (3, 7, 10). His laboratory discovered a panel of neoantigens, known as Cancer-Testis Antigens that can be induced in a broad range of prostate cancer cell lines. To evaluate the translational relevance of these findings, they developed an ex vivo drug culture model to treat primary human prostate cancer biopsies with different epigenetic drugs followed by molecular analysis of mechanisms of response and resistance. These agents can also improve antigen presentation on tumor cells that may target one of the primary mechanisms of resistance to immune-based therapies.