Our Research

The Houghton Lab studies the immune cell composition and function in solid tumor malignancies, most prominently in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The group has established a platform to combine the study of human tissue specimens and mouse models of cancer to address key questions ranging from mechanisms of immune escape and treatment failures to the identification of novel biomarkers for lung cancer early detection.  This platform has revealed an essential role for myeloid lineage cells—particularly neutrophils—in excluding tumor-reactive lymphocytes from the malignant portion of tumors. The current focus of the lab is to determine the mechanistic basis of lymphocyte-excluded NSCLCs and to develop therapeutic strategies to circumvent their exclusion.