University of South Florida

Cancer Biology Ph.D. Program at the

Julie Y. Djeu, Ph.D. Professor and Associate Chair of Basic Sciences in the Department of Oncologic Sciences, Program Leader Immunology Program, and Member-in-Residence of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center E-mail:Julie.Djeu@moffitt.org Phone: 745-3041

Training
B.A. Biology, Barnard College, Columbia University, 1967
Ph.D. Medical Microbiology; George Washington University, 1973

Research Interests
Natural Killer Cells and Signal Transduction Natural killer (NK) cells constitute an early immune defense mechanism against tumor cells and provide a complementary pathway from cytotoxic T cells to ward off cancer. Active research is being conducted on the molecular mechanisms by which NK cells kill tumor cells. In contrast to signal pathways that control cell growth and proliferation, new data are being generated to indicate that a unique set of signal molecules controls NK tumoricidal function. Contact with tumor cells immediately triggers a phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) - Rac1 - Pak1 - MEK pathway in NK cells that activates Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) to mobilize lytic enzymes towards the tumor cells. Current research is to define what signals are upstream of PI3K and downstream of MAPK. Understanding of this lytic process may provide insight into new forms of cancer immunotherapy.

Search for publications by:   
This search will be conducted at the US National Library of Medicine (NLM) and PubMed.

Selected Publications
Pericle, F, P.K. Epling-Burnette, E.R. Podack, S. Wei and J.Y. Djeu. 1997. CD40/CD40L interactions provides third party costimulation for T cell response against B7-1 transfected human breast tumor cells. J. Leuk. Biol. 61, 201.

Wei, S., A.M. Gamero, J.H. Liu, A.A. Daulton, N.I. Valkov, J.A. Trapani, A.C. Larner, M.J. Weber, and J.Y. Djeu. 1998. Control of lytic function by mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular regulatory kinase 2 (ERK2) in a human natural killer cell line: Identification of perforin and granzyme B mobilization by functional ERK2. J. Exp. Med. 187: 1753.

Liu, J.H., S. Wei, P.K. Burnette, A.M. Gamero, M. Hutton, and J.Y. Djeu. 1999. Functional association of TGFb receptor II with cyclin B. Oncogene 18:269.

Wei, S, DL Gilvary, BC Corliss, S Sebtyi, J Sun, DB Straus, PJ Leibson, JA Trapani, AD Hamilton, MJ Weber and JY Djeu. 2000. Direct tumor lysis by NK cells uses a Ras-independent MAPK signal pathway. J. Immunol. 165:3811.

Jiang, K, B Zhong, DL Gilvary, BC Corliss, E Hong-Geller, S Wei, and JY Djeu. 2000. Pivotal role of phosphoinositide-3 kinase in regulation of cytotoxicity in NK cells. Nature Immunol. In press in November.