Bryon D. Johnson, PhD

Professor, Pediatrics (Hematology/Oncology/BMT) and Microbiology & Immunology

Locations

Microbiology & Immunology

Contact Information

General Interests

Cancer immunology and immunotherapy

Education

PhD, Immunology, University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School (now Rosalind Franklin University), 1989
BS, Microbiology, Iowa State University, 1983

Research Interests

I am interested in understanding the biology and immunology of cancer, and uncovering novel immune-based approaches to treat cancer. My current research focuses on combining the following approaches to improve the use of cancer immunotherapy for treating both solid tumors and hematologic cancers: (1) immune checkpoint protein blockade, (2) adoptive transfer of cancer-reactive T lymphocytes, and (3) the use of metabolic inhibitors to increase T cell immunity.

STING agonist inflames the pancreatic cancer immune microenvironment and reduces tumor burden in mouse models.

(Jing W, McAllister D, Vonderhaar EP, Palen K, Riese MJ, Gershan J, Johnson BD, Dwinell MB.) J Immunother Cancer. 2019 Apr 29;7(1):115.
A Serum-Induced Transcriptome and Serum Cytokine Signature Obtained at Diagnosis Correlates with the Development of Early Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Metastasis.

(Tsai S, McOlash L, Jia S, Zhang J, Simpson P, Kaldunski ML, Aldakkak M, Grewal J, Palen K, Dwinell MB, Johnson BD, Mackinnon A, Hessner MJ, Gershan JA.) Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2019 Apr;28(4):680-689.
Frontline Science: PECAM-1 (CD31) expression in naïve and memory, but not acutely activated, CD8 T cells.

(Newman DK, Fu G, McOlash L, Schauder D, Newman PJ, Cui W, Rao S, Johnson BD, Gershan JA, Riese MJ.) J Leukoc Biol. 2018 11;104(5):883-893.
Bone Marrow-derived CD8+ T Cells From Pediatric Leukemia Patients Express PD1 and Expand Ex Vivo Following Induction Chemotherapy.

(Palen K, Thakar M, Johnson BD, Gershan JA.) J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2018 Jun 14.
Diacylglycerol kinase ζ (DGKζ) and Casitas b-lineage proto-oncogene b-deficient mice have similar functional outcomes in T cells but DGKζ-deficient mice have increased T cell activation and tumor clearance.

(Wesley EM, Xin G, McAllister D, Malarkannan S, Newman DK, Dwinell MB, Cui W, Johnson BD, Riese MJ.) Immunohorizons. 2018 Apr 01;2(4):107-118.
T Cells Deficient in Diacylglycerol Kinase ζ Are Resistant to PD-1 Inhibition and Help Create Persistent Host Immunity to Leukemia.

(Jing W, Gershan JA, Holzhauer S, Weber J, Palen K, McOlash L, Pulakanti K, Wesley E, Rao S, Johnson BD, Riese MJ.) Cancer Res. 2017 10 15;77(20):5676-5686.
Adoptive cell therapy using PD-1 myeloma-reactive T cells eliminates established myeloma in mice.

(Jing W, Gershan JA, Blitzer GC, Palen K, Weber J, McOlash L, Riese M, Johnson BD.) J Immunother Cancer. 2017;5:51.
E-cadherin re-expression shows in vivo evidence for mesenchymal to epithelial transition in clonal metastatic breast tumor cells.

(Palen K, Weber J, Dwinell MB, Johnson BD, Ramchandran R, Gershan JA.) Oncotarget. 2016 Jul 12;7(28):43363-43375.
Mitochondria-Targeted Analogues of Metformin Exhibit Enhanced Antiproliferative and Radiosensitizing Effects in Pancreatic Cancer Cells.

(Cheng G, Zielonka J, Ouari O, Lopez M, McAllister D, Boyle K, Barrios CS, Weber JJ, Johnson BD, Hardy M, Dwinell MB, Kalyanaraman B.) Cancer Res. 2016 07 01;76(13):3904-15.
Erratum to: Separation and Characterization of Epithelial and Mesenchymal-like Murine Mammary Tumor Cells Reveals Epithelial Cell Differentiation Plasticity and Enhanced Tumorigenicity of Epithelial-enriched Tumor Cells.

(Palen KA, Jing W, Weber JJ, Tilkens SB, Chan AM, Johnson BD, Gershan JA.) Cancer Microenviron. 2016 Apr;9(1):75.
Diacylglycerol Kinases (DGKs): Novel Targets for Improving T Cell Activity in Cancer.

(Riese MJ, Moon EK, Johnson BD, Albelda SM.) Front Cell Dev Biol. 2016;4:108.
Graft-versus-leukemia effect of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation: Clinical and experimental aspects of late leukemia relapse

(Truitt RL, Horowitz MM, Atasoylu AA, Drobyski WR, Johnson BD, LeFever AV.) Cellular Immune Mechanisms and Tumor Dormancy. 1 January 2017:111-132.

Bryon D. Johnson, PhD