Overview

The central idea of my research is that appropriate stimulation of the immune system will provide an effective strategy for the treatment and prevention of childhood cancers. Our research, therefore, seeks to understand the influence of the immune system during cancer progression and to use this knowledge to develop approaches to induce therapeutic anti-cancer immune activity. In addition to evaluating the impact of immune responses on established disease, our research seeks to identify the influence of the immune system before cancer is detected. To achieve these goals we use a range of experimental systems, including transgenic mice, adoptive transfer models, human xenograft models, and ex vivo and in vitro analysis of patient samples and human cell lines. It is hoped this broad approach will expedite the development of effective new treatments for children with cancer.

Publications

Age and ligand specificity influence the outcome of pathogen engagement on preleukemic and leukemic B-cell precursor populations
Blood Advances
Tanmaya Atre and Ali Farrokhi and Sumin Jo and Samuel Salitra and Jesus Duque-Afonso and Michael L. Cleary and Nina Rolf and Gregor S. D. Reid
DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2023010782
11/2023

Targetable lesions and proteomes predict therapy sensitivity through disease evolution in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Nature Communications
Amanda C. Lorentzian and Jenna Rever and Enes K. Ergin and Meiyun Guo and Neha M. Akella and Nina Rolf and C. James Lim and Gregor S. D. Reid and Christopher A. Maxwell and Philipp F. Lange
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42701-9
11/2023

Centrosome Amplification Is a Potential Molecular Target in Paediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Cancers
Guo M and Jenna Rever and Phuong N.U. Nguyen and Neha Manjari Akella and Reid GSD and Chris Maxwell
DOI: 10.3390/cancers15010154
PubMed: 36612150
12/2022

Lipid nanoparticle formulations for optimal RNA-based topical delivery to murine airways
European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
A Tam and J Kulkarni and K An and L Li and DR Dorscheid and GK Singhera and P Bernatchez and GSD Reid and KYT Chan and D Witzigmann and PR Cullis and DD Sin and CJ Lim
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejps.2022.106234
09/2022

Inflammatory Immune Responses Trigger Rejection of Allogeneic Fibroblasts Transplanted into Mouse Skin.
Cell transplantation
Ali Farrokhi and Rahavi M and Jo S and Jalili R and Chinten James Lim and Ghahsary A and Reid GSD
DOI: 10.1177/09636897221113803
PubMed: 35912954
01/2022

A cross-standardized flow cytometry platform to assess phenotypic stability in precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) xenografts
Cytometry Part A
Nina Rolf and Lorraine Y. T. Liu and Angela Tsang and Philipp F. Lange and Chinten James Lim and Christopher A. Maxwell and Suzanne M. Vercauteren and Gregor S. D. Reid
DOI: 10.1002/cyto.a.24473
01/2022

PDX models reflect the proteome landscape of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia but divert in select pathways
Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research
Anuli C. Uzozie and Enes K. Ergin and Nina Rolf and Janice Tsui and Amanda Lorentzian and Samuel S. H. Weng and Lorenz Nierves and Theodore G. Smith and C. James Lim and Christopher A. Maxwell and Gregor S. D. Reid and Philipp F. Lange
DOI: 10.1186/s13046-021-01835-8
12/2021

Vasoactive intestinal peptide promotes host defense against enteric pathogens by modulating the recruitment of group 3 innate lymphoid cells
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Hong Bing Yu and Hyungjun Yang and Joannie M. Allaire and Caixia Ma and Franziska A. Graef and Arthur Mortha and Qiaochu Liang and Else S. Bosman and Gregor S. Reid and James A. Waschek and Lisa C. Osborne and Harry Sokol and Bruce A. Vallance and Kevan Jacobson
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2106634118
10/2021

Differential Depletion of Bone Marrow Resident B-ALL after Systemic Administration of Endosomal TLR Agonists.
Cancers
DOI: 10.3390/cancers12010169
PubMed: 32015298
01/2020

The TLR9 agonist (GNKG168) induces a unique immune activation pattern in vivo in children with minimal residual disease positive acute leukemia: Results of the TACL T2009-008 phase I study.
Pediatric hematology and oncology
DOI: 10.1080/08880018.2019.1667461
PubMed: 31530240
09/2019

Tumor Variant Identification That Accounts for the Unique Molecular Landscape of Pediatric Malignancies.
JNCI cancer spectrum
DOI: 10.1093/jncics/pky079
PubMed: 30976750
10/2018

CD47-ligation induced cell death in T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Cell Death & Disease
Pascal Leclair and Chi-Chao Liu and Mahdis Monajemi and Gregor S. Reid and Laura M. Sly and Chinten James Lim
DOI: 10.1038/s41419-018-0601-2
05/2018

Combination therapy with proteasome inhibitors and TLR agonists enhances tumour cell death and IL-1ß production
Cell Death & Disease
Anthony C Tang and Seyed M Rahavi and Shan-Yu Fung and Henry Y Lu and Hong Yang and Chinten J Lim and Gregor S Reid and Stuart E Turvey
DOI: 10.1038/s41419-017-0194-1
02/2018

Absolute lymphocyte counts at end of induction correlate with distinct immune cell compartments in pediatric B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
10/2017

Generation of a multi-antigen-directed immune response for durable control of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Leukemia
09/2017

IFN-¿ directly inhibits murine B-cell precursor leukemia-initiating cell proliferation early in life
European Journal of Immunology
Mario Fidanza and Alix E. Seif and Sumin Jo and Amina Kariminia and Nina Rolf and Laura M. Sly and Stephan A. Grupp and Gregor S. D. Reid
DOI: 10.1002/eji.201646806
05/2017

Inhibition of precursor B-cell malignancy progression by toll-like receptor ligand-induced immune responses
Leukemia
DOI: 10.1038/leu.2016.152
06/2016

alpha-Integrin expression and function modulates presentation of cell surface calreticulin.
Cell death & disease
Liu, C-C and Leclair, P and Monajemi, M and Sly, L M and Reid, G S and Lim, C J
DOI: 10.1038/cddis.2016.176
2016

Heterodimer-specific TLR2 stimulation results in divergent functional outcomes in B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia
European Journal of Immunology
Rolf, Nina and Kariminia, Amina and Ivison, Sabine and Reid, Gregor S. and Schultz, Kirk R.
DOI: 10.1002/eji.201444874
2015

Intravenous immunoglobulin skews macrophages to an anti-inflammatory, IL-10-producing activation state
Journal of Leukocyte Biology
Kozicky, Lisa K. and Zhao, Zheng Yu and Menzies, Susan C. and Fidanza, Mario and Reid, Gregor S. D. and Wilhelmsen, Kevin and Hellman, Judith and Hotte, Naomi and Madsen, Karen L. and Sly, Laura M.
DOI: 10.1189/jlb.3VMA0315-078R
2015

Noninvasive bioluminescent imaging of primary patient acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a strategy for preclinical modeling
Blood
Barrett, D. M. and Seif, A. E. and Carpenito, C. and Teachey, D. T. and Fish, J. D. and June, C. H. and Grupp, S. A. and Reid, G. S. D.
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2011-04-346528
2011

Interferon-gamma-Dependent Infiltration of Human T Cells into Neuroblastoma Tumors In vivo
Clinical Cancer Research
Reid, Gregor S. D. and Shan, Xiaochuan and Coughlin, Christina M. and Lassoued, Wiem and Pawel, Bruce R. and Wexler, Leonard H. and Thiele, Carol J. and Tsokos, Maria and Pinkus, Jack L. and Pinkus, Geraldine S. and Grupp, Stephan A. and Vonderheide, Robert H.
DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-09-0829
2009

Long-term protection from syngeneic acute lymphoblastic leukemia by CpG ODN-mediated stimulation of innate and adaptive immune responses
Blood
Seif, Alix E. and Barrett, David M. and Milone, Michael and Brown, Valerie I. and Grupp, Stephan A. and Reid, Gregor S. D.
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2009-02-203984
2009

Detection of WT1-specific T cells in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia patients in first remission
British Journal of Haematology
Barbaric, Draga and Corthals, Sophie L. and Jastaniah, Wasil A. and Asalanian, Soudabeh and Shimizu, Hiromi and Reid, Gregor S. D. and Schultz, Kirk R.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.2008.07001.x
2008

mTOR inhibitors are synergistic with methotrexate: an effective combination to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Blood
Teachey, David T. and Sheen, Cecilia and Hall, Junior and Ryan, Theresa and Brown, Valerie I. and Fish, Jonathan and Reid, Gregor S. D. and Seif, Alix E. and Norris, Robin and Chang, Yueh J. and Carroll, Martin and Grupp, Stephan A.
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2008-02-137141
2008

Novel molecular and cellular therapeutic targets in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoproliferative disease
Immunologic Research
Brown, Valerie I. and Seif, Alix E. and Reid, Gregor S. D. and Teachey, David T. and Grupp, Stephan A.
DOI: 10.1007/s12026-008-8038-9
2008

Targeting Notch signaling in autoimmune and lymphoproliferative disease
Blood
Teachey, David T. and Seif, Alix E. and Brown, Valerie I. and Bruno, Marlo and Bunte, Ralph M. and Chang, Yueh J. and Choi, John K. and Fish, Jonathan D. and Hall, Junior and Reid, Gregor S. and Ryan, Theresa and Sheen, Cecilia and Zweidler-McKay, Patrick and Grupp, Stephan A.
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2007-05-087353
2008

Altered Toll-like receptor 9 responses in circulating B cells at the onset of extensive chronic graft-versus-host disease
Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation
She, Kevin and Gilman, Andrew L. and Aslanian, Soudabeh and Shimizu, Hiromi and Krailo, Mark and Chen, Zhengjia and Reid, Gregor S. and Wall, Donna and Goldman, Fred and Schultz, Kirk R.
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2006.12.441
2007

In vivo control of acute lymphoblastic leukemia by immunostimulatory CpG oligonucleotides
Blood
Fujii, Hisaki and Trudeau, Jacqueline D. and Teachey, David T. and Fish, Jonathan D. and Grupp, Stephan A. and Schultz, Kirk R. and Reid, Gregor S. D.
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2006-02-002055
2007

Differential immune effects mediated by Toll-like receptors stimulation in precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
British Journal of Haematology
Corthals, SL and Wynne, K and She, K and Shimizu, H and Curman, D and Garbutt, K and Reid, GSD
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.2005.05893.x
2006

HLA-DM expression is elevated in ETV6-AML1 translocation-positive pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Leukemia Research
Jastaniah, WA and Alessandri, AJ and Reid, GSD and Schultz, KR
DOI: 10.1016/j.leukres.2005.08.013
2006

CpG stimulation of precursor B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia induces a distinct change in costimulatory molecule expression and shifts allogeneic T cells toward a Th1 response
Blood
Reid, GSD and She, K and Terrett, L and Food, MR and Trudeau, JD and Schultz, KR
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2004-06-2468
2005

Immune evasion strategies of pediatric precursor-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation - a case study
Leukemia Research
Barbaric, D and Wynne, K and Aslanian, S and Bond, M and Reid, GSD
DOI: 10.1016/j.leukres.2005.01.002
2005

Expression of the adaptor protein BLNK/SLP-65 in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Leukemia
Imai, C and Ross, ME and Reid, G and Coustan-Smith, E and Schultz, KR and Pui, CH and Downing, JR and Campana, D
DOI: 10.1038/sj.leu.2403349
2004

Primary immunodeficiency to pneumococcal infection due to a defect in toll-like receptor signaling
Journal of Pediatrics
Currie, AJ and Davidson, DJ and Reid, GSD and Bharya, S and MacDonald, KL and Devon, RS and Speert, DP
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2003.10.034
2004

Progression of spontaneous autoimmune diabetes is associated with a switch in the killing mechanism used by autoreactive CTL
International Immunology
Qin, HL and Trudeau, JD and Reid, GSD and Lee, IF and Dutz, JP and Santamaria, P and Verchere, CB and Tan, RS
DOI: 10.1093/intimm/dxh167
2004

The cationic antimicrobial peptide LL-37 modulates dendritic cell differentiation and dendritic cell-induced T cell polarization
Journal of Immunology
Davidson, DJ and Currie, AJ and Reid, GSD and Bowdish, DME and MacDonald, KL and Ma, RC and Hancock, REW and Speert, DP
2004

Altered patterns of T cell cytokine production induced by relapsed pre-B ALL cells
Leukemia Research
Reid, GSD and Terrett, L and Alessandri, AJ and Grubb, S and Stork, L and Seibel, N and Gaynon, P and Schultz, KR
DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2126(03)00106-1
2003

Differential killing of pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells by activated NK cells and the NK-92 ci cell line
Clinical and Experimental Immunology
Reid, GSD and Bharya, S and Klingemann, HG and Schultz, KR
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2249.2002.01919.x
2002

ETV6 (TEL)-AML1 pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells are associated with a distinct antigen-presenting phenotype
British Journal of Haematology
Alessandri, AJ and Reid, GSD and Bader, SA and Massing, BG and Sorensen, PHB and Schultz, KR
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2141.2002.03291.x
2002

TAP expression provides a general method for improving the recognition of malignant cells in vivo
Nature Biotechnology
Alimonti, J and Zhang, QJ and Gabathuler, R and Reid, G and Chen, SS and Jefferies, WA
2000

Surrogate antigen processing mediated by TAP-dependent antigenic peptide secretion
Journal of Cell Biology
Gabathuler, R and Alimonti, J and Zhang, QJ and Kolaitis, G and Reid, G and Jefferies, WA
DOI: 10.1083/jcb.140.1.17
1998

Novel peptide-binding proteins and peptide transport in normal and TAP-deficient microsomes
Biochemistry
Marusina, K and Reid, G and Gabathuler, R and Jefferies, W and Monaco, JJ
DOI: 10.1021/bi9619738
1997

COMPARISON OF CELL-LINES DEFICIENT IN ANTIGEN PRESENTATION REVEALS A FUNCTIONAL-ROLE FOR TAP-1 ALONE IN ANTIGEN-PROCESSING
Journal of Experimental Medicine
GABATHULER, R and REID, G and KOLAITIS, G and DRISCOLL, J and JEFFERIES, WA
DOI: 10.1084/jem.180.4.1415
1994

TRANSPORT AND EXPRESSION IN HUMAN MELANOMAS OF A TRANSFERRIN-LIKE GLYCOSYLPHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL-ANCHORED PROTEIN
Journal of Biological Chemistry
FOOD, MR and ROTHENBERGER, S and GABATHULER, R and HAIDL, ID and REID, G and JEFFERIES, WA
1994

THE ROLE OF THE OVARY AND NUTRITIONAL SIGNALS IN THE REGULATION OF FAT-BODY YOLK PROTEIN GENE-EXPRESSION IN DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER
Journal of Insect Physiology
BOWNES, M and REID, G
DOI: 10.1016/0022-1910(90)90097-Y
1990

Research

Current Projects
Immune influence on ALL development. Infection has long been postulated to play a role in the progression of childhood ALL. Using novel models of this disease we are actively identifying the influence of the immune system during a pre-leukemic state on the onset of ALL. Our research indicates that the immune system may exert considerable control over early pre-leukemic cell expansion, but other mechanisms, such as growth factor availability, may also be important. Our long-term goal is to identify the growth constraints on pre-leukemic expansion, understand the influence of infection on these constraints, and use this knowledge to develop targeted strategies to reduce the incidence of primary disease and relapse.

Current Projects
Immune therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This research addresses the issue of ALL immunogenicity and the induction of anti-ALL immune activity as a strategy to eradicate residual disease after chemotherapy. Our work has described the ability of immunostimulatory DNA (CpG ODN) treatment both to enhance the immunogenicity of primary human ALL blasts and to stimulate significant anti-ALL immune activity resulting in T cell-mediated protection against disease progression. This work provided the first report of immune-mediated killing of primary human ALL in vivo in the absence of adoptive transfer of lymphocytes or stem cell transplantation, and indicates that toll-like receptor signaling may provide a clinically feasible strategy for augmenting immune responses against ALL. A clinical trial based on this approach is aboout to commence. The next major step in our development of CpG ODN as an immune therapy for ALL will involve the examination of their ability to induce anti-leukemia immune activity after chemotherapy in a spontaneous mouse model of ALL, and to generate ALL-specific T cells against autologous leukemia blasts from patients. By using such models, in which immune tolerance must be overcome, this ongoing work will be the most stringent pre-clinical testing yet of an immune therapy for pediatric leukemia. The goal of these studies is to provide insights that will optimize the clinical application of this approach.

Grants

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Canadian Cancer Society

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada

Research Group Members

Maryam Aletaha, Graduate Student
Tanmaya Atre, PhD Student
Ali Farrokhi, Postdoctoral Fellow
Arnawaz Kaleem, Technician
S.M Reza Rahavi, Doctoral Student
Nina Rolf, Research Associate, MD, PhD, Physician Scientist
Zahra Rouintan, Volunteer
Samuel Salitra
Angela Tsang, Clinical Technician
Brenda Tse, Research Coordinator