Galina V. Shurin, PhD

Research Assistant Professor of Pathology, Division of Clinical Immunopathology

Dr. Shurin is a member of the Division of Clinical Immunopathology and Co-director of the departmental Flow Cytometry facility.

Education & Training
PhD - Immunology/Allergy, Moscow Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Cellular Immunology, Moscow, Russia, 1991
Research Interests

Dr. Shurin has a long-standing interest in dendritic cell (DC) cell immunobiology, with a particular focus on DC subsets and their function in the tumor microenvironment. Our laboratory demonstrated impaired DC generation, function and survival in cancer, and we have since defined tumor-derived factors (IL-10, gangliosides, bombesin-like peptides, etc) and signaling pathways in DC precursors and DC (i.e., small Rho GTPases) responsible for deficient or polarized DC functionality in tumor-bearing hosts.

The focus of Dr. Sharin's current research is to test a series of hypotheses regarding the importance of the tumor microenvironment in the generation of improved methods of cancer immunotherapy. The laboratory has been actively studying the mechanisms that tumors evoke to escape immune destruction. Using several murine solid tumor models, we have examined the nature and functional activity of tumor associated DC, MDSC and Treg and demonstrated that each tumor utilizes specific mechanisms of immune escape that can, in some models, be reversed with proper immune countermeasures. We now test the effectiveness of modulating the tumor microenvironment with FDA-approved pharmacological agents prior to cancer vaccines to demonstrate that novel neo-adjuvant approach can significantly enhance vaccine efficacy. The current study is a result of several years of discussions and laboratory work and is considered a very important step forward in the translation of some unexpected findings in immunomodulating properties of several common antineoplastic drugs in new use for cancer therapy.

Representative Publications

View Dr. Shurin's publications on PubMed

  • Tkach AV., Yanamala N., Stanley S., Shurin MR., Shurin GV., Kisisn ER., Murray AR., Pareso S., Khaliullin T., Kotchey GP., Castranova V., Mathur S., Fadeel B., Star A., Kagan VE., Shvedova AA. Graphene Oxide, but not Fullerenes, targets immunoproteasomes and suppresses antigen presentation by dendritic cells. Small, 9:1686-90, 2013.
  • Shvedova AA., Tkach AV., Kisisn ER., Khaliullin T., Stanley S., Gutkin DW., Star A., Chen Y., Shurin GV., Kagan VE., Shurin MR. Carbon nanotubes enhance metastatic growth of lung carcinoma via up-regulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Small, 9:1691-95, 2013.
  • Sevco A., Michels T., Vrohlings M., Umansky V., Beckhove P., Kato M., Shurin GV., Shurin MR., Umansky V. J. Antitumor effect of paclitaxel is mediated by inhibition of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and chronic inflammation in the spontaneous melanoma model. J. Immunol. 190(5):2464-2471, 2013.
  • Ustinova EE., Shurin GV., Gutkin DW., Shurin MR. The role of TLR4 in the paclitaxel effects on neuronal growth in vitro. PloS One, 8(2):e56886, 2013.
  • Shurin GV., Ma Y., Shurin MR. Immunosuppressive mechanisms of regulatory dendritic cells in cancer. Cancer Microenvironment, 6(2):159-67, 2013.
  • Barbeau DJ., La KT., Kim DS., Kerpedjieva SS., Shurin GV., Tamama K. Early Growth response -2 Signaling Mediates Immunomodulatory Effects of Human Multipotential Stromal Cells. Stem Cells Dev, 23(2):155-166, 2014.
  • Zhong H., Gutkin DW., Han B., Ma Y., Keskinov AA., Shurin MR., Shurin GV. Origin and Pharmacological Modulation of tumor-associated regulatory dendritic cells. Int. Journal of Cancer, 134(11):2633-2645, 2014.
  • Shurin MR, Yanamala N, Kisin ER, Tkach AV, Shurin GV, Murray AR, Leonard HD, Reynolds JS, Gutkin DW, Star A, Fadeel B, Savolainen K, Kagan VE, Shvedova. Graphene oxide attenuates th2-type immune responses, but augments airway remodeling and hyperresponsiveness in a murine model of asthma. ACS Nano, 8(6):5585-5599, 2014.
  • Zhao Y, Burkert SC, Tang Y, Sorescu DC, Kapralov AA, Shurin GV, Shurin MR, Kagan VE, Star A. Nano-gold corking and enzymatic uncorking of carbon nanotube cups. J Am Chem Soc. 137(2):675-84, 2015.
  • Shvedova AA, Kisin ER, Yanamala N, Tkach AV, Gutkin DW, Star A, Shurin GV, Kagan VE, Shurin MR. MDSC and TGF-β are required for facilitation of tumor growth in the lungs of mice exposed to carbon nanotubes. Cancer Res. 75(8):1615-23, 2015.
  • Seo W, Kapralov AA, Shurin GV, Shurin MR, Kagan VE, Star A. Payload drug vs. nanocarrier biodegradation by myeloperoxidase- and peroxynitrite-mediated oxidations: pharmacokinetic implications. Nanoscale. 7(19):8689-94, 2015.