Todd Schell, PhD - Penn State Cancer Institute
Researcher Profile
Todd Schell, PhD
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Scientific Program:Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis
Disease Teams:
Cancer Institute, Immunotherapy Team
Research Interests
Dr. Todd Schell's research focuses on defining immune-based therapies for cancer. His interests include evaluating approaches to improve the persistence and function of tumor-reactive T lymphocytes within the tumor microenvironment. These studies have defined how tumor-reactive T-cells behave in distinct types of cancer including those that occur in the brain, pancreas, prostate and skin. Emphasis is placed on the use of adoptive T-cell therapies as well as defining how existing immune-based therapies currently used in cancer patients can be further improved.
Recent studies from the Schell laboratory highlight how antibody-based therapies targeting CD40 or PD-1 can be improved through combination with existing approaches such as radiation or common medications such as beta-blockers. Through collaborations with clinical investigators, translational studies focus on identification of patient characteristics that are associated with durable clinical responses to immune-based therapies, particularly for metastatic melanoma.
In addition to his research, Dr. Schell is the faculty director of Penn State College of Medicine's Flow Cytometry Core Facility.
- T-Lymphocytes
- Neoplasms
- Epitopes
- Therapeutics
- Transgenic Mice
- Neoplasm Antigens
- Viral Tumor Antigens
- Simian virus 40
- Immunotherapy
- Cytotoxic T-Lymphocytes
- Melanoma
- Polyomavirus Transforming Antigens
Clinical Trials
General Protocol for the Acquisition of Whole Blood for the Detection and Characterization of Circulating Tumor Cells and/or Tumor Specific Immunity/Immune Cell Activation for any Malignancy at any Stage of Disease
A Retrospective Evaluation to Understand how â-adrenergic Antagonism Impacts the Progression of Melanoma and the Efficacy of Standard Treatments Intended to Eliminate the Cancer
Recent Publications
2024
Gowda, K, Raza, A, Vangala, V, Lone, NA, Lin, JM, Singh, JK, Srivastava, SK, Schell, TD, Robertson, GP, Amin, S & Sharma, AK 2024, 'Identification of Novel Isatin Derivative Bearing a Nitrofuran Moiety as Potent Multi-Isoform Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Inhibitor', Molecules, vol. 29, no. 13, 3114. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29133114
Chen, YC, Gowda, K, Amin, S, Schell, TD, Sharma, AK & Robertson, GP 2024, 'Pharmacological agents targeting drug-tolerant persister cells in cancer', Pharmacological Research, vol. 203, 107163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2024.107163
Demirsoy, S, Tran, H, Liu, J, Li, Y, Yang, S, Aregawi, D, Glantz, MJ, Jacob, NK, Walter, V, Schell, TD & Olmez, I 2024, 'Targeting Tyro3, Axl, and MerTK Receptor Tyrosine Kinases Significantly Sensitizes Triple-Negative Breast Cancer to CDK4/6 Inhibition', Cancers, vol. 16, no. 12, 2253. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16122253
2023
Jia, B, Zhao, C, Minagawa, K, Shike, H, Claxton, DF, Ehmann, WC, Rybka, WB, Mineishi, S, Wang, M, Schell, TD, Prabhu, KS, Paulson, RF, Zhang, Y, Shultz, LD & Zheng, H 2023, 'Acute Myeloid Leukemia Causes T Cell Exhaustion and Depletion in a Humanized Graft-versus-Leukemia Model', Journal of Immunology, vol. 211, no. 9, pp. 1426-1437. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.2300111
Manni, A, Sun, YW, Schell, TD, Lutsiv, T, Thompson, H, Chen, KM, Aliaga, C, Zhu, J & El-Bayoumy, K 2023, 'Complementarity between Microbiome and Immunity May Account for the Potentiating Effect of Quercetin on the Antitumor Action of Cyclophosphamide in a Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Model', Pharmaceuticals, vol. 16, no. 10, 1422. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16101422
Joshi, M, Tuanquin, L, Zhu, J, Walter, V, Schell, T, Kaag, M, Kilari, D, Liao, J, Holder, SL, Emamekhoo, H, Sankin, A, Merrill, S, Zheng, H, Warrick, J, Hauke, R, Gartrel, B, Stein, M, Drabick, J, Degraff, DJ & Zakharia, Y 2023, 'Concurrent durvalumab and radiation therapy (DUART) followed by adjuvant durvalumab in patients with localized urothelial cancer of bladder: Results from phase II study, BTCRC-GU15-023', Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, vol. 11, no. 2, e006551. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2022-006551
Elcheva, IA, Gowda, CP, Bogush, D, Gornostaeva, S, Fakhardo, A, Sheth, N, Kokolus, KM, Sharma, A, Dovat, S, Uzun, Y, Schell, TD & Spiegelman, VS 2023, 'IGF2BP family of RNA-binding proteins regulate innate and adaptive immune responses in cancer cells and tumor microenvironment', Frontiers in immunology, vol. 14, 1224516. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1224516
Brendle, SA, Li, JJ, Walter, V, Schell, T, Kozak, M, Balogh, KK, Lu, S, Christensen, ND, Zhu, Y, El-Bayoumy, K & Hu, J 2023, 'Immune Responses in Oral Papillomavirus Clearance in the MmuPV1 Mouse Model', Pathogens, vol. 12, no. 12, 1452. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12121452
Yeware, A, Helton, A, Dong, Y, Dong, C, Pritchard, J, Mineishi, S, Minagawa, K, Schell, T & Hayes, D 2023, 'Novel fourth generation-like CARmiR cells release therapeutic miRNA via exosomes and enhance glioblastoma cell killing activity', Biochemical Engineering Journal, vol. 199, 109068. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2023.109068
Pandya Shesh, B, Walter, V, Palsa, K, Slagle-Webb, B, Neely, E, Schell, T & Connor, JR 2023, 'Sexually dimorphic effect of H-ferritin genetic manipulation on survival and tumor microenvironment in a mouse model of glioblastoma', Journal of neuro-oncology, vol. 164, no. 3, pp. 569-586. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-023-04415-2
2022
Lü, J, Jiang, C, Schell, TD, Joshi, M, Raman, JD & Xing, C 2022, 'Angelica gigas: Signature Compounds, In Vivo Anticancer, Analgesic, Neuroprotective and Other Activities, and the Clinical Translation Challenges', American Journal of Chinese Medicine, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 1475-1527. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0192415X2250063X
Dhanyamraju, PK, Schell, TD, Amin, S & Robertson, GP 2022, 'Drug-Tolerant Persister Cells in Cancer Therapy Resistance', Cancer Research, vol. 82, no. 14, pp. 2503-2514. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-3844
Zhang, R, Neighbors, JD, Schell, TD & Hohl, RJ 2022, 'Schweinfurthin induces ICD without ER stress and caspase activation', OncoImmunology, vol. 11, no. 1, 2104551. https://doi.org/10.1080/2162402X.2022.2104551
Liu, X, Wills, CA, Chen, L, Zhang, J, Zhao, Y, Zhou, M, Sundstrom, JM, Schell, T, Spiegelman, VS, Young, MM & Wang, HG 2022, 'Small extracellular vesicles induce resistance to anti-GD2 immunotherapy unveiling tipifarnib as an adjunct to neuroblastoma immunotherapy', Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, vol. 10, no. 4, e004399. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2021-004399
2021
Jia, B, Zhao, C, Bayerl, M, Shike, H, Claxton, DF, Ehmann, WC, Mineishi, S, Schell, TD, Zheng, P, Zhang, Y, Shultz, LD, Prabhu, KS, Paulson, RF & Zheng, H 2022, 'A novel clinically relevant graft-versus-leukemia model in humanized mice', Journal of Leukocyte Biology, vol. 111, no. 2, pp. 427-437. https://doi.org/10.1002/JLB.5AB0820-542RR