Immunovirotherapy Group
Cancer remains a significant disease and leading cause of death, and there is a need for more sophisticated and effective therapies. Personalized treatments for cancer show great promise in curing the disease, and developing novel personalized therapy approaches is one of our main goals. Our selected platform to treat cancer is oncolytic virus. These viruses have been engineered to selectively infect and kill cancer cells in a process called, “oncolysis.” During infection by oncolytic viruses, the immune system is switched on, eliciting a virus-specific immune response. The same infection can also elicits a tumor-specific immune response that, in some cases, synergizes with the virus and provides a long-lasting beneficial effect for patients. Our group explores mechanisms to understand and ultimately to control the virus-host interface and to revert the anti-viral response into an anti-tumoral response. To facilitate these studies, we have developed innovative and sophisticated techniques that allow us to continually and rapidly monitor tumor antigen presentation. This information can then be used to generate tumor-specific (or patient-specific) oncolytic vaccines. Using similar viral technology, we are also researching and developing potential vaccines for malaria, influenza, and other infectious diseases.
Selected Publications:
- Genetic diversity and tumor immunesurveillance. Hirvinen M. and Cerullo V. Journal of Thoracic Disease. 2013. Feb;5(1):6-7.
- Oncolytic adenoviruses: A potent form of tumor immunovirotherapy. Cerullo V., Vähä-Koskela M. and Hemminki A. Oncoimmunology. 2012. Sep 1;1(6):979-981.
- Immunological effects of low-dose cyclophosphamide in cancer patients treated with oncolytic adenovirus. Cerullo V., Diaconu I., Kangasniemi L., Rajecki M., Escutenaire S., Koski A., Romano V., Rouvinen N., Tuuminen T., Laasonen L., Partanen K., Kauppinen S., Joensuu T., Oksanen M., Holm S.L., Haavisto E., Karioja-Kallio A., Kanerva A., Pesonen S., Arstila P.T., and Hemminki A. Molecular Therapeutics. 2011. Sep;19(9):1737-46.
- Oncolytic adenovirus coding for granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor induces antitumoral immunity in cancer patients. Cerullo V., Pesonen S., Diaconu I., Escutenaire S., Arstila P.T., Ugolini M., Nokisalmi P., Raki M., Laasonen L., Särkioja M., Rajecki M., Kangasniemi L., Guse K., Helminen A., Ahtiainen L., Ristimäki A., Räisänen-Sokolowski A., Haavisto E., Oksanen M., Karli E., Karioja-Kallio A., Holm S.L., Kouri M., Joensuu T., Kanerva A., and Hemminki A. Cancer Research. 2010. Jun 1;70(11):4297-309.

Vincenzo Cerullo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dr. Cerullo serves as ad hoc reviewer for several international peer-reviewed journals; as well as expert reviewer for the WellcomeTrust UK, various European Commission funding programmes, and the Italian Ministry of Education and University. In addition, he serves on the editorial board of the journal, "Biomedicine." Most recently, Dr. Cerullo was guest editor of the Special Issue on Gene Therapy for Cancer Treatment.
Professor Cerullo has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications and more than 10 patents in the US and European Union. His research is mainly focused on immunology and vaccine development using viral platforms. As a part of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Helsinki, he teaches "Advanced Course in Immunobiology," a course he developed. He is further developing a new comprehensive course in Immunology, a first at the Faculty of Pharmacy.