Dr. Naoto Hirano - Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

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Dr. Naoto Hirano

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Dr. Naoto Hirano

Senior Investigator

Naoto.Hirano@uhnresearch.ca

Senior Investigator

Dr. Naoto Hirano’s research program aims to devise novel anti-tumor immunotherapeutic modalities that can cure cancer. Dr. Hirano’s research team is particularly interested in understanding how the interactions between T cells and antigen-presenting cells affect priming, expansion, persistence and differentiation of T cells, as well as how this leads to the subsequent generation and maintenance of anti-tumor T cell memory.

Experience & Education

Clinician Scientist I, OICR
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School

Current Affiliations

Senior Investigator, OICR
Associate Director for Research, Tumour Immunotherapy Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Senior Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Professor of Medicine, Department of Immunology, University of Toronto

Select Publications

Sugata K, Matsunaga Y, Yamashita Y, Nakatsugawa M, …, Hirano N. Affinity-matured HLA class II dimers for robust staining of antigen-specific CD4⁺T cells. Nat Biotechnol. 2021.
Murata K, Nakatsugawa M, Rahman MA, Nguyen LT, …, Hirano N. Landscape mapping of shared antigenic epitopes and their cognate TCRs of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes in melanoma. eLife. 2020.
Benveniste PM, Roy S, Nakatsugawa M, …, Hirano N, …, Zúñiga-Pflücker JC. Generation and molecular recognition of melanoma-associated antigen-specific human γδ T cells. Sci Immunol. 2018
Kagoya Y, Tanaka S, Guo T, …, Hirano N. A novel chimeric antigen receptor containing a JAK-STAT signaling domain mediates superior antitumor effects. Nat Med. 2018; 24(3):352-359.
Yamashita Y, Anczurowski M, Nakatsugawa M, …, Hirano N. HLA-DP84Gly constitutively presents endogenous peptides generated by the class I antigen processing pathway. Nat Commun. 2017; 8:15244.

See Dr. Hirano’s recent publications on PubMed.

Research Areas

Treatment

Disease Areas

Melanoma

Opportunities to Collaborate

Collaborate with us

To collaborate with Dr. Hirano, please contact him directly.

Visit OICR’s Collaborative Research Resources directory for more opportunities to collaborate with OICR researchers.

In the News

Research breakthrough paves way for more cancer patients to benefit from immunotherapy, regardless of ancestry

Mar 01, 2021

OICR-affiliated researchers awarded $6.6 million in funding from CIHR

Mar 09, 2021

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