Alexandre Reuben
Assistant Professor
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology
Dr. Reuben's research focus is in enhancing the immune response against lung tumors. It has long been known that tumors harbor mutations, and that these mutations could make tumors resistant to the immune response and to various therapeutic modalities. However, the recent discovery that many of these mutations can generate antigens which appear foreign to the immune system, termed neoantigens, has led to changes in current therapeutic approaches. Dr. Reuben’s lab, through a combination of basic and translational approaches in mice and humans, seeks to characterize and enhance the anti-tumor T lymphocyte response against lung cancers. These studies have led to the identification of resistance mechanisms within the tumor microenvironment which include the intratumoral heterogeneity of antigens presented throughout the tumor, which make eradicating a single tumor much akin to destroying multiple tumors in different patients. Dr. Reuben’s work focuses on identifying and exploiting unifying attributes which allow T cells to overcome these and other resistance mechanisms in the context of adoptive T cell therapy and immune checkpoint blockade.
Education & Training
Ph.D. - University of Montreal - 2014