Coukos lab

Our group focuses on engineering T cells that are associated with immune rejection in cancer. We use systems biology approaches to study the molecular states of T cells that are associated with immune deregulation or attack, either in the steady state or after T cell therapy. Departing from previous knowledge, we are also designing new synthetic T cell states, with the goals of overcoming tumor immune resistance and T cell deregulation. Learning from these lessons, we engineer T cells capable of superior performance and then re-infuse them into patients. We are also studying how certain components of the tumor microenvironment, such as regulatory T cells and blood vessels, can suppress immune responses but also be therapeutically manipulated to enhance the antitumor functions of the infused T cells. We are bringing our novel T cell technologies to the bedside in collaboration with other groups at CHUV and the Ludwig Institute. ...

Team

George Coukos

Full Professor, Director of Hi-TIDe - Human integrated tumor immunology discovery engine, Head of the Department of Oncology, UNIL & CHUV, Director of Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne Co-director, Swiss Cancer Center Leman

george.coukos@chuv.ch CoukosLab

Selected Publications

Orthogonal cytokine engineering enables novel synthetic effector states escaping canonical exhaustion in tumor-rejecting CD8(+) T cells.

Corria-Osorio J, Carmona SJ, Stefanidis E, (...), Luther SA, Irving M, Coukos G

Nature immunology – 2023 Apr 20

Machine learning predictions of MHC-II specificities reveal alternative binding mode of class II epitopes.

Racle J, Guillaume P, Schmidt J, (...), Bassani-Sternberg M, Harari A, Gfeller D

Immunity – 2023 Mar 30

Patient-reported outcomes in adoptive cell-therapy trials: mind the gap.

Ghisoni E, Morotti M, Colomer-Lahiguera S, (...), Coukos G, Trueb L, Di Maio M

Journal for immunotherapy of cancer – 2022 Dec 18

A roadmap for driving CAR T cells toward the oncogenic immunopeptidome.

Irving M, Zoete V, Bassani-Sternberg M, Coukos G

Cancer cell – 2022 Jan 10

Sensitive identification of neoantigens and cognate TCRs in human solid tumors.

Arnaud M, Chiffelle J, Genolet R, (...), Bobisse S, Coukos G, Harari A

Nature biotechnology – 2021 Nov 15

Low-Dose Radiotherapy Reverses Tumor Immune Desertification and Resistance to Immunotherapy.

Herrera FG, Ronet C, Ochoa de Olza M, (...), Dangaj Laniti D, Irving M, Coukos G

Cancer discovery – 2021 Sep 3

Turning up the heat on non-immunoreactive tumours: opportunities for clinical development.

Ochoa de Olza M, Navarro Rodrigo B, Zimmermann S, Coukos G

The Lancet. Oncology – 2020 Sep

Immunotherapy in Ovarian Cancer: Are We There Yet?

Kandalaft LE, Odunsi K, Coukos G

Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology – 2019 Aug 12

Rational combinations of immunotherapy with radiotherapy in ovarian cancer.

Herrera FG, Irving M, Kandalaft LE, Coukos G

The Lancet. Oncology – 2019 Jul 29

Mechanisms regulating T-cell infiltration and activity in solid tumors.

Lanitis E, Dangaj D, Irving M, Coukos G

Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology – 2017 Dec 1

The Human Vaccines Project: A roadmap for cancer vaccine development.

Romero P, Banchereau J, Bhardwaj N, (...), Van den Eynde B, Koff W, Coukos G

Science translational medicine – 2016 Apr 13

T-cell and NK-cell infiltration into solid tumors: a key limiting factor for efficacious cancer immunotherapy.

Melero I, Rouzaut A, Motz GT, Coukos G

Cancer discovery – 2014 May

Tumor endothelium FasL establishes a selective immune barrier promoting tolerance in tumors.

Motz GT, Santoro SP, Wang LP, (...), Feldman MD, Benencia F, Coukos G

Nature medicine – 2014 May 4

Therapeutic PD-1 pathway blockade augments with other modalities of immunotherapy T-cell function to prevent immune decline in ovarian cancer.

Duraiswamy J, Freeman GJ, Coukos G

Cancer research – 2013 Aug 23

Cancer immunotherapy comes of age.

Mellman I, Coukos G, Dranoff G

Nature – 2011 Dec 21

Tumour hypoxia promotes tolerance and angiogenesis via CCL28 and T(reg) cells.

Facciabene A, Peng X, Hagemann IS, (...), Lal P, Zhang L, Coukos G

Nature – 2011 Jul 13

Specific recruitment of regulatory T cells in ovarian carcinoma fosters immune privilege and predicts reduced survival.

Curiel TJ, Coukos G, Zou L, (...), Knutson KL, Chen L, Zou W

Nature medicine – 2004 Aug 22

Intratumoral T cells, recurrence, and survival in epithelial ovarian cancer.

Zhang L, Conejo-Garcia JR, Katsaros D, (...), Liebman MN, Rubin SC, Coukos G

The New England journal of medicine – 2003 Jan 16