Karin Pelka, PhD

Assistant Investigator
Assistant Professor
Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
[email protected]
Research Overview: 

Immunotherapy, the use of agents that stimulate or suppress immune responses to combat disease, has revolutionized the treatment of certain types of cancer. However, many cancers are unresponsive to immunotherapy for reasons that remain poorly understood. Immune cells cannot execute their function in isolation, but require interactions with other immune and non-immune cells. In a large collaborative systems biology effort, we discovered multiple cellular communities—or “hubs” where malignant and immune cells interact in the tumors of patients with colorectal cancer. Furthermore, we found that tumors that were likely to respond to immunotherapy contained different types of hubs than those who don’t respond. By pursuing the characterization of immune hubs in solid tumors, we hope to identify molecular mechanisms that could be harnessed to design novel immunotherapies for currently non-responsive tumors.

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Using single cell genomics and tissue imaging, we study the cellular interactions that shape immune responses in human tumors in order to harness the immune system in the fight against cancer.
Featured Publications: 

Spatially organized multicellular immune hubs in human colorectal cancer.

Cell

Pelka K, Hofree M, Chen JH, Sarkizova S, Pirl JD, Jorgji V, Bejnood A, Dionne D, Ge WH, Xu KH, Chao SX, Zollinger DR, Lieb DJ, Reeves JW, Fuhrman CA, Hoang ML, Delorey T, Nguyen LT, Waldman J, Klapholz M, Wakiro I, Cohen O, Albers J, Smillie CS, Cuoco MS, Wu J, Su MJ, Yeung J, Vijaykumar B, Magnuson AM, Asinovski N, Moll T, Goder-Reiser MN, Applebaum AS, Brais LK, DelloStritto LK, Denning SL, Phillips ST, Hill EK, Meehan JK, Frederick DT, Sharova T, Kanodia A, Todres EZ, Jané-Valbuena J, Biton M, Izar B, Lambden CD, Clancy TE, Bleday R, Melnitchouk N, Irani J, Kunitake H, Berger DL, Srivastava A, Hornick JL, Ogino S, Rotem A, Vigneau S, Johnson BE, Corcoran RB, Sharpe AH, Kuchroo VK, Ng K, Giannakis M, Nieman LT, Boland GM, Aguirre AJ, Anderson AC, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Regev A, Hacohen N

The Chaperone UNC93B1 Regulates Toll-like Receptor Stability Independently of Endosomal TLR Transport.

Immunity

Pelka K, Bertheloot D, Reimer E, Phulphagar K, Schmidt SV, Christ A, Stahl R, Watson N, Miyake K, Hacohen N, Haas A, Brinkmann MM, Marshak-Rothstein A, Meissner F, Latz E

Lineage Tracing in Humans Enabled by Mitochondrial Mutations and Single-Cell Genomics.

Cell

Ludwig LS, Lareau CA, Ulirsch JC, Christian E, Muus C, Li LH, Pelka K, Ge W, Oren Y, Brack A, Law T, Rodman C, Chen JH, Boland GM, Hacohen N, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Aryee MJ, Buenrostro JD, Regev A, Sankaran VG

Western Diet Triggers NLRP3-Dependent Innate Immune Reprogramming.

Cell

Christ A, Günther P, Lauterbach MAR, Duewell P, Biswas D, Pelka K, Scholz CJ, Oosting M, Haendler K, Baßler K, Klee K, Schulte-Schrepping J, Ulas T, Moorlag SJCFM, Kumar V, Park MH, Joosten LAB, Groh LA, Riksen NP, Espevik T, Schlitzer A, Li Y, Fitzgerald ML, Netea MG, Schultze JL, Latz E

Cutting edge: the UNC93B1 tyrosine-based motif regulates trafficking and TLR responses via separate mechanisms.

Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)

Pelka K, Phulphagar K, Zimmermann J, Stahl R, Schmid-Burgk JL, Schmidt T, Spille JH, Labzin LI, Agrawal S, Kandimalla ER, Casanova JL, Hornung V, Marshak-Rothstein A, Höning S, Latz E