Memberships:

• Indian Immunology Society
• American Association of Immunologists
• Indian Association for Cancer Research
• The Zoological Society, Kolkata

Solid tumor malignancies are often infiltrated with prognostically relevant immune cells that include myeloid cells, lymphocytes, and NK cells. The multicellular complex interactions between immune cells and non-immune cells in the tumor microenvironment determine sustained robust effective antitumor immune response.

Traditionally, tumor immunology has been chiefly centered on T lymphocytes, but T cells do not work alone. A coordinated humoral response with cellular arm of adaptive immunity develops robust and sustained effectiveness and long-term memory. Although B lymphocytes have been correlated with cancer-promoting activities, recent evidence exhibits that humoral response is associated with immune protection in multiple cancers. The crosstalk of B lymphocytes with other immune cells at tumor beds, apart from T cells, is an area that needs to be thoroughly investigated. Germinal center formation in epithelial malignancies is a complex process that ensures production of protective anti-tumor antibodies at tumor beds, and we speculate that orchestration of tertiary-lymphoid-structures that eventually leads to germinal centers is largely dependent on non-B, non-T immune and non-immune cells.

We work primarily in major 3 non-viral malignancies in women: breast cancer, ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer in the following four major areas: 1) the comprehensive mechanism of intratumoral germinal center formation, 2) how radiotherapy impacts spontaneous antitumor responses, 3) how the effectiveness of antibodies produced by tumor-infiltrating B cell is determined by the tumor microenvironment, and 4) developing novel vaccines strategies for these cancers.

PUBLICATIONS AFTER JOINING ILS

Tamuli B, Ghagare R, Mandal G. Design, Production, and Optimization of Antigen-Specific Recombinant Antitumor Dimeric IgA Antibody. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2025;2909:119-129. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4442-3_9. PMID: 40029519. (IF: 2.3)

Mandal G, Pradhan S. B cell responses and antibody-based therapeutic perspectives in human cancers. Cancer Reports. 2024 Mar;7(3):e2056. doi: 10.1002/cnr2.2056. PMID: 38522010. (IF: 2.6)

PATENTS

CDRs for glycosylated ACAT1. Conejo-Garcia JR, Biswas S, Mandal G. US patent- 22MA024PRWO (pending publication).

PUBLICATIONS FROM POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING

Targeting intracellular oncoproteins with dimeric IgA promotes expulsion from the cytoplasm and immune-mediated control of epithelial cancers. Biswas S*, Mandal G*, Anadon CM, Chaurio RA, Lopez-Bailon LU, Nagy MZ, Mine JA, Hänggi K, Sprenger KB, Innamarato P, Harro CM, Powers JJ, Johnson J, Fang B, Eysha M, Nan X, Li R, Perez BA, Curiel TJ, Yu X, Rodriguez PC, Conejo-Garcia JR. Immunity. 2023 Nov 14;56(11):2570-2583.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.09.013. Epub 2023 Oct 30. PMID: 37909039. (*CO-FIRST AUTHORS) (IF: 32.4)

Sézary syndrome originates from heavily mutated hematopoietic progenitors. Harro CM, Sprenger KB, Chaurio RA, Powers JJ, Innamarato P, Anadon CM, Zhang Y, Biswas S, Mandal G, Mine JA, Cortina C, Nagy MZ, Martin AL, Handley KF, Borjas GJ, Chen PL, Pinilla-Ibarz J, Sokol L, Yu X, Conejo-Garcia JR. Blood Advances. 2023 Sep 26;7(18):5586-5602. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2022008562. PMID: 37531660. (IF: 7.5)

Virtual alignment of pathology image series for multi-gigapixel whole slide images. Gatenbee CD, Baker AM, Prabhakaran S, Swinyard O, Slebos RJC, Mandal G, Mulholland E, Andor N, Marusyk A, Leedham S, Conejo-Garcia JR, Chung CH, Robertson-Tessi M, Graham TA, Anderson ARA. Nature Communications. 2023 Jul 26;14(1):4502. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40218-9. PMID: 37495577. (IF: 16.6)

Actionable spontaneous antibody responses antagonize malignant progression in ovarian carcinoma. Handley KF, Mehta S, Martin AL, Biswas S, Maharaj K, Nagy MZ, Mine JA, Cortina C, Yu X, Sprenger K, Mandal G, Innamarato P, Powers JJ, Harro CM, Chaurio RA, Anadon CM, Shahzad MM, Flores I, Conejo-Garcia JR. Gynecologic Oncology. 2023 Apr 28; 173:114-121. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2023.03.020. PMID: 37121178. (IF: 4.7)

Olfactory Receptor OR2H1 Is an Effective Target for CAR T Cells in Human Epithelial Tumors. Martin AL, Anadon CM, Biswas S, Mine JA, Handley KF, Payne KK, Mandal G, Chaurio RA, Powers JJ, Sprenger KB, Rigolizzo KE, Innamarato P, Harro CM, Mehta S, Perez BA, Wenham RM, Conejo-Garcia JR. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 2022 Jul 5;21(7):1184-1194. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-21-0872. PMID: 35499393. (IF: 5.7)

Ovarian cancer immunogenicity is governed by a narrow subset of progenitor tissue-resident memory T cells. Anadon CM, Yu X, Hänggi K, Biswas S, Chaurio RA, Martin A, Payne KK, Mandal G, Innamarato P, Harro CM, Mine JA, Sprenger KB, Cortina C, Powers JJ, Costich TL, Perez BA, Gatenbee CD, Prabhakaran S, Marchion D, Heemskerk MHM, Curiel TJ, Anderson AR, Wenham RM, Rodriguez PC, Conejo-Garcia JR. Cancer Cell. 2022 May 9;40(5):545-557.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2022.03.008. Epub 2022 Apr 14. PMID: 35427494. (IF: 50.3)

TGF-β-mediated silencing of genomic organizer SATB1 promotes Tfh cell differentiation and formation of intra-tumoral tertiary lymphoid structures. Chaurio RA, Anadon CM, Lee Costich T, Payne KK, Biswas S, Harro CM, Moran C, Ortiz AC, Cortina C, Rigolizzo KE, Sprenger KB, Mine JA, Innamarato P, Mandal G, Powers JJ, Martin A, Wang Z, Mehta S, Perez BA, Li R, Robinson J, Kroeger JL, Curiel TJ, Yu X, Rodriguez PC, Conejo-Garcia JR. Immunity. 2022 Jan 11;55(1):115-128.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2021.12.007. PMID: 35021053. (IF: 32.4)

IgA-Dominated Humoral Immune Responses Govern Patients’ Outcome in Endometrial Cancer. Mandal G, Biswas S, Anadon CM, Yu X, Gatenbee CD, Prabhakaran S, Payne KK, Chaurio RA, Martin A, Innamarato P, Moran C, Powers JJ, Harro CM, Mine JA, Sprenger KB, Rigolizzo KE, Wang X, Curiel TJ, Rodriguez PC, Anderson AR, Saglam O, Conejo-Garcia JR. Cancer Research. 2022 Mar 1;82(5):859-871. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-2376. PMID: 34949671.  (IF: 11.2)

IgA transcytosis and antigen recognition govern ovarian cancer immunity. Biswas S, Mandal G, Payne KK, Anadon CM, Gatenbee CD, Chaurio RA, Costich TL, Moran C, Harro CM, Rigolizzo KE, Mine JA, Trillo-Tinoco J, Sasamoto N, Terry KL, Marchion D, Buras A, Wenham RM, Yu X, Townsend MK, Tworoger SS, Rodriguez PC, Anderson AR, Conejo-Garcia JR. Nature. 2021 Mar;591(7850):464-470. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03144-0. Epub 2021 Feb 3. PMID: 33536615.

Methyltransferase inhibitors restore SATB1 protective activity against cutaneous T cell lymphoma in mice. Harro CM, Perez-Sanz J, Costich TL, Payne KK, Anadon CM, Chaurio RA, Biswas S, Mandal G, Rigolizzo KE, Sprenger KB, Mine JA, Showe LC, Yu X, Liu K, Rodriguez PC, Pinilla-Ibarz J, Sokol L, Conejo-Garcia JR. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2021 Feb 1;131(3). doi: 10.1172/JCI135711. PMID: 33270606. (IF: 15.9)

BTN3A1 governs antitumor responses by coordinating αβ and γδ T cells. Payne KK, Mine JA, Biswas S, Chaurio RA, Perales-Puchalt A, Anadon CM, Costich TL, Harro CM, Walrath J, Ming Q, Tcyganov E, Buras AL, Rigolizzo KE, Mandal G, Lajoie J, Ophir M, Tchou J, Marchion D, Luca VC, Bobrowicz P, McLaughlin B, Eskiocak U, Schmidt M, Cubillos-Ruiz JR, Rodriguez PC, Gabrilovich DI, Conejo-Garcia JR. Science. 2020 Aug 21;369(6506):942-949. doi: 10.1126/science.aay2767. PMID: 32820120. (IF: 56.9)

PUBLICATIONS FROM DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

AXL/GAS6 signaling governs differentiation of tumor-associated macrophages in breast cancer. Purohit S, Mandal G, Biswas S, Dalui S, Gupta A, Chowdhury SR, Bhattacharyya A. Experimental Cell Research. 2025 Jan 1;444(1):114324. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2024.114324. Epub 2024 Nov 6.

Exosomes Produced by Mesenchymal Stem Cells Drive Differentiation of Myeloid Cells into Immunosuppressive M2-Polarized Macrophages in Breast Cancer. Biswas S*, Mandal G*, Roy Chowdhury S, Purohit S, Payne KK, Anadon C, Gupta A, Swanson P, Yu X, Conejo-Garcia JR, Bhattacharyya A. Journal of Immunology. 2019 Dec 15;203(12):3447-3460. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1900692. Epub 2019 Nov 8. PMID: 31704881. (*co-first authors) (IF: 4.4)

MicroRNA-222 reprogrammed cancer-associated fibroblasts enhance growth and metastasis of breast cancer. Chatterjee A, Jana S, Chatterjee S, Wastall LM, Mandal G, Nargis N, Roy H, Hughes TA, Bhattacharyya A. British Journal of Cancer. 2019 Oct;121(8):679-689. doi: 10.1038/s41416-019-0566-7. Epub 2019 Sep 4. PMID: 31481734 (IF: 8.8)

RelA driven co-expression of CXCL13 and CXCR5 is governed by a multifaceted transcriptional program regulating breast cancer progression. Biswas S, Roy Chowdhury S, Mandal G**, Purohit S, Gupta A, Bhattacharyya A. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta- Molecular Basis of Disease. 2019 Feb 1;1865(2):502-511. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2018.12.002. Epub 2018 Dec 12. PMID: 30553016. (**EQUAL CONTRIBUTION) (IF: 6.2)

Heterodimer formation by Oct4 and Smad3 differentially regulates epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-associated factors in breast cancer progression. Mandal G, Biswas S, Roy Chowdhury S, Chatterjee A, Purohit S, Khamaru P, Chakraborty S, Mandal PK, Gupta A, de la Mare JA, Edkins AL, Bhattacharyya A. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta Molecular Basis of Disease. 2018 Jun;1864(6 Pt A):2053-2066. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2018.03.010. Epub 2018 Mar 8. PMID: 29526821. (IF: 6.2)

CCL2 conditionally determines CCL22-dependent Th2-accumulation during TGF-β-induced breast cancer progression. Mandal PK, Biswas S, Mandal G, Purohit S, Gupta A, Majumdar Giri A, Roy Chowdhury S, Bhattacharyya A. Immunobiology. 2018 Feb;223(2):151-161. doi: 10.1016/j.imbio.2017.10.031. Epub 2017 Oct 16. PMID: 29107385. (IF: 2.8)

“Theranostic” role of bile salt-capped silver nanoparticles – gall stone/pigment stone disruption and anticancer activity. Mandal RP, Mandal G, Sarkar S, Bhattacharyya A, De S. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. 2017 Oct;175:269-281. doi: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2017.08.040. Epub 2017 Sep 5. PMID: 28923599. (IF: 5.4)

CXCL13-CXCR5 co-expression regulates epithelial to mesenchymal transition of breast cancer cells during lymph node metastasis. Biswas S, Sengupta S, Roy Chowdhury S, Jana S, Mandal G, Mandal PK, Saha N, Malhotra V, Gupta A, Kuprash DV, Bhattacharyya A. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. 2014 Jan;143(2):265-76. doi: 10.1007/s10549-013-2811-8. Epub 2013 Dec 13. PMID: 24337540. (IF: 3.8)

PhD Students

Mr. Rutik Tilakchand Ghagare	Mr. Alinda Ghosh

Project Fellows

Ms. Akansha Goyal

Lab Technician

Ms. Suchismita Pradhan

Past Members

Ms. Tulika Goswami (Dissertation trainee)

Mr. Vivekananda Barik (Project Fellow)

SERB, Govt. of India Start-up Research Grant, 2023.

ICMR, Investigator Initiated Research Proposals, 2024.