Massachusetts General Hospital is home to the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the U.S., with nearly $1.3 billion in research operations in 2022. The Mass General Research Institute comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments.
But what do each of these groups do? Learn more about the individual labs and centers in our #ThroughTheMagnifyingGlass series, where we take a closer look at the teams that make up the Massachusetts General Research Institute.
In this post, we are highlighting the Demehri Lab led by Shawn Demehri, MD, PhD!
Dr. Demehri is a Bob and Rita Davis Family MGH Research Scholar 2023-2028, the Director of the High Risk Skin Cancer Clinic, a Physician Investigator at the Cutaneous Biology Research Center and Center for Cancer Immunology and an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School.
What research do you perform, and why is it unique?
In the Demehri lab, we are working to understand the immune system’s role in early cancer development.
There are various immunotherapy options for late-stage cancers, but we want to figure out how to use the body’s immune system to prevent cancers from developing and spreading in the early stages.
To do this, we focus on the effects that DNA damage, viral infection, exposure to carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) and aging have on the harmony of the human body’s internal environment.
We are studying how these factors promote or control tumor development in a patient’s skin, breast, as well as other organs.
We focus on identifying the immune pathways that can prevent cancer formation in normal tissues and block pre-cancerous lesions from advancing to invasive disease.
Through this research, we can study the relationship between certain viruses and the immune system and how this relationship could be used to prevent and treat chronic diseases, including cancer and autoimmunity.
Meet the Team
Our lab has researchers from around the globe! Our team is made up of surgeons, physicians, and scientists who come to learn and collaborate.
Each researcher brings new ideas and their own unique perspective, which allows us to brainstorm and problem-solve more effectively.
While each team member is responsible for different projects, we foster a collaborative environment where we readily assist one another.
What’s truly fascinating about our approach is how interconnected our projects are. Each project is strategically linked to another, creating a web of research initiatives that amplify our impact.
This collaborative and interconnected approach allows us to tackle complex problems with a holistic perspective.
In fact, collaboration is at the core of our team dynamics; it’s not just a feature of our work, it’s the driving force behind our high-impact research outcomes.
What publication is really important to your ongoing research?
In our recent publication, Cytotoxic CD4+ T cells eliminate senescent cells by targeting cytomegalovirus antigen, we show how an immune response to a common virus that lives in the human population can train our body to detect and eliminate aging cells. These findings highlight the beneficial function of viruses for promoting human health.
At present, our research endeavors are focused on commensal viruses, which reside within the human body without typically manifesting symptoms or causing diseases.
Our primary objective is to unravel the mechanisms driving the virus-immune system relationship and how it affects the homeostasis (stability and balance) of organs.
We are looking into potential applications of these viruses in the prevention and treatment of cancer and other chronic diseases in humans.
We’re also studying the role of immune cells such as T cells and NK cells in blocking early cancer development.
How does your research apply to everyday people's lives?
Our research seeks to develop new ways to improve cancer prevention and early treatment.
Over the last three decades, an enormous amount of attention and resources have been dedicated to reducing exposure to environmental carcinogens; however, the efficacy of primary prevention strategies in our aging population with preexisting carcinogen exposures, premalignant lesions and genetic predispositions has been limited.
Our pursuit of immune-based strategies to target the early stages of cancer development holds great potential for advancing the field of cancer prevention.
We will apply our expertise, the strength of our environment, and the unique facilities developed at our institution to achieve the goals of this project and translate our findings into well-designed clinical trials.
For example, we are developing methods to treat early signs of breast cancer by stimulating the immune system to recognize tumor cells and eliminate them. This is especially important for patients at risk of developing breast cancer.
Although preventative surgeries may be recommended to reduce cancer, the significant illnesses associated with these surgical procedures highlight the need for an alternative approach to achieve cancer prevention in the high-risk population.
What is something you wish everyone knew about the research you perform?
It might be possible to prevent cancers using our immune system and the interactions between viruses and our immune system may actually help in protecting us from age-associated diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders.
About the Mass General Research Institute
Massachusetts General Hospital is home to the largest hospital-based research program in the United States. Our researchers work side-by-side with physicians to develop innovative new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent disease.
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