Franck Housseau, PhD

Primary Academic Title

Associate Professor of Oncology

Background

Centers and Institutes

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center

Contact for Research Inquiries

1650 Orleans Street
Room 4M59
Baltimore, MD 21231

Research Interests

colon cancer, colorectal cancer IL-17, immune checkpoints Microbiome, Tumor immune microenvironment

Lab Website

Housseau Research Group - Lab Website

Research Summary

My research interest is the immunomodulation of the tumor microenvironment to improve the response to immunotherapy. I am studying the roles of the microbiome, tissue regeneration and aging onto the immune response to cancer, aiming at developing new therapeutic tools (bacteria, senescent cells, affinity matured TCR) to improve the clinical response to immune checkpoint blockade. 

Google Scholar

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=c1-fZMsAAAAJ

PubMed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1LmHKe5EpUOko/bibliography/40388957/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Selected Publications

• Chung L, Thiele Orberg E, Geis AL, Chan JL, Fu K, DeStefano Shields CE, Dejea CM, Fathi P, Chen J,Finard BB, Tam AJ, McAllister F, Fan H, Wu X, Ganguly S, Lebid A, Metz P, Van Meerbeke SW, Huso DL, Wick EC, Pardoll DM, Wan F, Wu S, Sears CL, Housseau F. Bacteroides fragilis Toxin Coordinates a Pro-carcinogenic Inflammatory Cascade via Targeting of Colonic Epithelial Cells. Cell Host Microbe. 2018 Feb 14;23(2):203-214.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2018.01.007. PubMed PMID: 29398651; PMCID: PMC5954996

• DeStefano Shields CE, White JR, Chung L, Wenzel A, Hicks JL, Tam AJ, Chan JL, Dejea CM, Fan H, Michel J, Maiuri AR, Sriramkumar S, Podicheti R, Rusch DB, Wang H, De Marzo AM, Besharati S, Anders RA, Baylin SB, O'Hagan HM, Housseau F, Sears CL. Bacterial-driven inflammation and mutant BRAF expression combine to promote murine colon tumorigenesis that is sensitive to immune checkpoint therapy. Cancer Discov. 2021 Jul;11(7):1792-1807. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-20-0770. PubMed PMID: 33632774. PMCID: PMC8295175

• Llosa NJ, Cruise M, Tam A,Wicks EC, Hechenbleikner EM, Taube JM, Blosser RL, Fan H, Wang H, Luber BS, Zhang M, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Sears CL, Anders RA, Pardoll DM, Housseau F. The vigorous immune microenvironment of microsatellite instable colon cancer is balanced by multiple counter-inhibitory checkpoints. Cancer Discov. 2015 Jan;5(1):43-51. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-14-0863. PubMed PMID: 25358689; PMCID: PMC4293246

• Lu Z, Zou J, Li S, Topper MJ, Tao Y,Zhang H, Jiao X, Xie W, Kong X, Vaz M, Li H, Cai Y, Xia L, Huang P, Rodgers K, Lee B, Riemer JB, Day CP, Yen RC, Cui Y, Wang Y, Wang Y, Zhang W, Easwaran H, Hulbert A, Kim K, Juergens RA, Yang SC, Battafarano RJ, Bush EL, Broderick SR, Cattaneo SM, Brahmer JR, Rudin CM, Wrangle J, Mei Y, Kim YJ, Zhang B, Wang KK, Forde PM, Margolick JB, Nelkin BD, Zahnow CA, Pardoll DM, Housseau F, Baylin SB, Shen L,Brock MV. Epigenetic therapy inhibits metastases by disrupting premetastatic niches. Nature. 2020 Mar;579(7798):284-290. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2054-x. PubMed PMID: 32103175; PMCID: PMC8765085

• Wu S, Rhee KJ, Albesiano E, Rabizadeh S, Wu X, Yen HR, Huso DL, Brancati FL, Wick E, McAllister F, Housseau F, Pardoll DM, Sears CL. A human colonic commensal promotes colon tumorigenesis via activation of T helper type 17 T cell responses. Nat Med. 2009 Sep;15(9):1016-22. doi: 10.1038/nm.2015. PubMed PMID: 19701202; PMCID: PMC3034219

Honors

Discovery Award 2022, Johns Hopkins University, 7/1/22

Graduate Program Affiliations

• Graduate Program in Immunology

Memberships

• American Association Cancer Research

Additional Training

Gustave Roussy Cancer institute, Villejuif, France, 1997, Clinical biology residency; Division Immunology/Hematopoiesis, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 2002, Post-doctoral fellowships; Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 2001