Email

Positions

Professor

Pathology & Immunology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX, US

Member

Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States

Education

BS from Tufts University

05/1994 - Sommerville, Massachusetts, United States

PhD from Baylor College Of Medicine

02/2001 - Houston, Texas, United States

Professional Interests

• Cancer immunotherapy
• Dendritic cell vaccination
• TH polarization
• Innate immune signaling

Websites

Selected Publications

• Liang D, Tian L, You R, Halpert MM, Konduri V, Baig YC, Paust S, Kim D, Kim S, Jia F, Huang S, Zhang X, Kheradmand F, Corry DB, Gilbert BE, Levitt JM, Decker WK. " AIMp1 Potentiates TH1 Polarization and Is Critical for Effective Antitumor and Antiviral Immunity " Front Immunol. 2018 Jan 15; 8 : 1801.
  Pubmed PMID: 29379495.
• Tian L, Goldstein A, Wang H, Ching Lo H, Sun Kim I, Welte T, Sheng K, Dobrolecki LE, Zhang X, Putluri N, Phung TL, Mani SA, Stossi F, Sreekumar A, Mancini MA, Decker WK, Zong C, Lewis MT, Zhang XH. " Mutual regulation of tumour vessel normalization and immunostimulatory reprogramming " Nature. 2017 Apr 13; 544 (7649) : 250-254.
  Pubmed PMID: 28371798.
• Decker WK, da Silva RF, Sanabria MH, Angelo LS, Guimarães F, Burt BM, Kheradmand F, Paust S. " Cancer Immunotherapy: Historical Perspective of a Clinical Revolution and Emerging Preclinical Animal Models. " Front Immunol. 2017 Aug 2; 8 : 829.
  Pubmed PMID: 28824608.
• Konduri V, Halpert MM, Liang D, Levitt JM, Cruz-Chan JV, Zhan B, Bottazzi ME, Hotez PJ, Jones KM, Decker WK. " Genetic Adjuvantation of a Cell-Based Therapeutic Vaccine for Amelioration of Chagasic Cardiomyopathy " Infect Immun. 2017 Aug 18; 85 (9) : e00127-17.
  Pubmed PMID: 28674032.
• Halpert MM*, Konduri V*, Liang D, Chen YC, Wing JB, Paust S, Levitt JM, Decker WK. " Dendritic Cell Secreted CTLA-4 Regulates the T-cell Response by Downmodulating Bystander Surface B7 " Stem Cell Dev. 2016 ; 25 : 774-787.
  Pubmed PMID: 26979751.
• Konduri V, Li D, Halpert MM, Liang D, Liang Z, Chen Y, Fisher WE, Paust S, Levitt JM, Yao Q*, Decker WK. " Chemo-Immunotherapy Mediates Durable Cure of Orthotopic KrasG12D/p53-/- Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma " Oncoimmunology. 2016 Jul 22; 5 (9) : e1213933.
  Pubmed PMID: 27757308.
• Decker WK, Xing D, Li S, Robinson SN, Yang H, Steiner D, Komanduri K, Shpall EJ. " Th-1 Polarization is Regulated by Dendritic Cell Comparison of MHC Class I and Class II Antigens. " Blood. 2009 ; (113) : 4213-4223.
  Pubmed PMID: 19171878.
• Yang H, Eaves C, de Lima M, Lee MS, Champlin RE, McMannis JD, Robinson SN, Niu T, Decker WK, Xing D, Ng J, Li S, Yao X, Eaves AC, Jones R, Andersson BS, Shpall EJ. " A Novel Triple Purge Strategy for Eliminating Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) Cells from Autografts " Bone Marrow Transplant. 2006 ; (37) : 575-582.
  Pubmed PMID: 16435011.
• Decker WK*, Qiu J*, Farhangfar F, Hester JH, Altieri DC, Lin AY. " A retrogen plasmid-based vaccine generates high titer antibody responses against the autologous cancer antigen survivin and demonstrates anti-tumor efficacy " Cancer Lett. ; (237) : 45-55.
  Pubmed PMID: 16019131.
• Tian L, Welte T, Kim IS, Wang H, Goldstein A, Duan Z, Lo HC, Zhang X, Decker WK, Lewis MT, Zhang XHF. " Activated CD4+ T cells promote tumor vessel normalization and mitigate hypoxia. " Nature. 2017 ;
• Shahi P, Park D, Pond AC, Seethammagari M, Chiou S-H, Cho K, Carstens JL, Decker WK, McCrea PD, Rosen JM, Spencer DM. " Activation of Wnt Signaling by Chemically Induced Dimerization of LRP5 Disrupts Cellular Homeostasis. " PLoS One. 2012 ; (7) : e30814.
  Pubmed PMID: 22303459.
• Xing D, Decker WK, Li S, Robinson SN, Yang H, Segall H, O’Connor S, Yao X, Komanduri KV, McMannis JD, Jones RB, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ. " AML-loaded DC generate Th1-type cellular immune responses in vitro " Cytotherapy. 2006 ; (8) : 95-104.
  Pubmed PMID: 16698683.
• Shah N, Martin-Antonio B, Yang H, Ku S, Lee DA, Cooper LJN, Decker WK, Li S, Robinson SN, Takuya S, Parmar S, Gribben J, Wang M, Rezvani K, Yvon E, Najjar A, Burks J, Kaur I, Champlin RE, Bollard CM, Shpall EJ. " Antigen presenting cell-mediated expansion of human umbilical cord blood yields log-scale expansion of natural killer cells with anti-myeloma activity. " PLoS One. 2013 ; 8 : e76781.
  Pubmed PMID: 24204673.
• Goodson WH III et al and the Halifax Project Contributing Authors including Decker WK. " Assessing the Carcinogenic Potential of Low Dose Exposures to Chemical Mixtures in the Environment " Invited Review Article. Carcinogenesis. 2015 ; (36) : S254-S296.
  Pubmed PMID: 26106142.
• Yang H, Robinson SN, Lu J, Decker WK, Xing D, Steiner D, Parmar S, Shah N, Champlin RE, Munsell M, Leen A, Bollard CM, Simmons PJ, Shpall EJ. " CD3+ and/or CD14+ depletion from cord blood mononuclear cells before ex vivo expansion culture improves total nucleated cell and CD34+ cell yields. " Bone Marrow Transplant. 2010 ; (45) : 1000-1007.
  Pubmed PMID: 19838220.
• Decker WK, Safdar A. " Bioimmunoadjuvants for the Treatment of Neoplastic and Infectious Disease: Coley’s Legacy Revisited " Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 2009 ; (20) : 1271-1281.
  Pubmed PMID: 19656718.
• Kravchenko,Corsini,Williams MA, Decker W, Manjili MH, Otsuki T, Singh N, Al-Mulla F, Al-Temaimi R, Amedei A, Colacci AM, Vaccari M, Mondello C, Scovassi AI, Raju J, Hamid RA, Memeo L, Forte S, Roy R, Woodrick J, Salem HK, Ryan EP,Brown,Bisson, Lowe,Lyerly. " Chemical compounds from anthropogenic environment and immune evasion mechanisms: potential interactions " Invited Review Article. Carcinogenesis. 2015 ; (36) : S111-S127.
  Pubmed PMID: 26002081.
• Badhiwala J, Decker WK, Berens ME, Bhardwaj RD. " Clinical Trials in Cellular Immunotherapy for Brain/CNS Tumors, Invited Review Article " Expert Rev Neurother. 2013 ; (13) : 405-424.
  Pubmed PMID: 23545055.
• Safdar A*, Decker WK*, Li S, Xing D, Robinson SN, Yang H, Steiner D, Rodriguez G, Shpall EJ, Bollard CM. " De Novo T-lymphocyte Responses Against Baculovirus-Derived Recombinant Influenzavirus Hemagglutinin Generated by a Naive Umbilical Cord Model of Dendritic Cell Vaccination " Vaccine. 2009 ; (27) : 1479-1484.
  Pubmed PMID: 19185049.
• Xing D*, Ramsay AG*, Gribben JG, Decker WK, Burks JK, Munsell M, Li S, Robinson SN, Yang H, Steiner D, Shah N, McMannis JD, Champlin RE, Hosing CM, Zweidler-McKay PA, Shpall EJ, Bollard CM. " Cord Blood Natural Killer Cells Exhibit Defective Lytic Immunological Synapse Formation that is Reversed with IL-2 Ex Vivo Expansion. " J Immunother. ; (33) : 684-696.
  Pubmed PMID: 20664358.
• Decker WK, Safdar A. " Cytokine Adjuvants for Vaccine Therapy of Neoplastic and Infectious Disease, Review Article " Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 2011 ; (22) : 177-187.
  Pubmed PMID: 21862380.
• Decker WK, Li S, Xing D, Robinson SN, Yang H, Steiner D, Komanduri KV, Bollard CM, Shpall EJ. " Deficient Th-1 Responses from TNFα-Matured and αCD40-Matured Dendritic Cells " J Immunother. ; (31) : 157-165.
  Pubmed PMID: 18481385.
• Decker WK, Xing D, Shpall EJ. " Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Neoplastic Disease, Invited Review Article " Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. ; (12) : 113-125.
  Pubmed PMID: 16443510.
• Decker WK, Safdar A. " Dendritic Cell Vaccines for the Immunocompromised Patient: Emphasis on Prevention of Influenzavirus Infection, Invited Review Article " Expert Rev Vaccines. 2010 ; (9) : 721-730.
  Pubmed PMID: 20624046.
• Block KI et al and the Halifax Project Contributing Authors including Decker WK. " Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment " Invited Review Article. Semin Cancer Biol. 2015 ; (35) : S276-S304.
  Pubmed PMID: 26590477.
• Block KI et al and the Halifax Project Contributing Authors including Decker WK. " Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment " Invited Review Article. Semin Cancer Biol. 2015 ; (35) : S276-S304.
  Pubmed PMID: 26590477.
• Decker WK, Xing D, Li S, Robinson SN, Yang H, Yao X, Segall H, McMannis JD, Komanduri KV, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ. " Double Loading of Dendritic Cell MHC Class I and MHC Class II with an AML Antigen Repertoire Enhances Correlates of T-cell Immunity In Vitro via Amplification of T-cell Help " Vaccine. 2006 ; (24) : 3203-3216.
  Pubmed PMID: 16480795.
• Robinson SN, Simmons PJ, Thomas MW, Brouard N, Javni JA, Trilok S, Shim J-S, Yang H, Steiner D, Decker WK, Xing D, Shultz LD, Savoldo B, Dotti G, Bollard CM, Miller L, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ, Zweidler-McKay PA. " Ex vivo fucosylation improves human cord blood engraftment in NOD-SCID IL-2Rγnull (NSG) mice " Exp Hematol. 2012 ; (40) : 445-456.
  Pubmed PMID: 22306295.
• Wu S, Sampson MJ, Decker WK, Craigen WJ. " Each mammalian mitochondrial outer membrane porin protein is dispensable: effects on cellular respiration " Biochim Biophys Acta. 1999 ; (1452) : 68-78.
  Pubmed PMID: 10525161.
• Yang H, Robinson SN, Nieto Y, Jones RJ, Gocke CD, Lu J, Giralt SA, Jones RB, Decker WK, Xing D, Steiner D, Champlin RE, McMannis JD, Ng J, Thomas MW, Shah N, Parmar S, Shpall EJ. " Ex vivo graft purging and expansion of autologous mobilized peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) products from patients with multiple myeloma (MM). " Cancer Res. 2011 ; (71) : 5040-5049.
  Pubmed PMID: 21646477.
• Parmar S, Robinson SN, Komanduri K, St. John L, Decker WK, Xing D, Yang H, McMannis JD, Champlin RE, deLima M, Molldrem J, Bonyhadi M, Berenson R, Shpall EJ. " Ex-vivo expanded Umbilical Cord Blood T Cells maintain naïve phenotype and T-Cell Receptor diversity " Cytotherapy. 2006 ; (8) : 149-157.
  Pubmed PMID: 16698688.
• Hanley P, Cruz CR, Savoldo B, Leen AM, Stanojevic M, Khalil M, Decker WK, Molldrem JJ, Liu H, Gee AP, Rooney CM, Heslop HE, Dotti G, Brenner MK, Shpall EJ, Bollard CM. " Functionally Active Virus-Specific T-Cells that target CMV, Adenovirus and EBV can be Expanded From Naïve T-Cell Populations in Cord Blood and will Target a Broad Range of Viral Epitopes " Blood. 2009 ; (114) : 1958-1967.
  Pubmed PMID: 19443656.
• Decker WK, Shah N, Xing D, Lapushin R, Li S, Robinson SN, Yang H, Parmar S, Halpert MM, Keating MJ, Gribben JG, Molldrem JJ, Shpall EJ, Wierda WG. " Generation of Functional CLL-Specific Cord Blood CTL Using CD40-Ligated CLL APC. " PLoS One. 2012 ; 7 : e51390.
  Pubmed PMID: 23284688.
• Shah N*, Decker WK*, Lapushin R, Xing D, Robinson SN, Yang H, Parmar S, Tung SS, O’Brien S, Fernandez-Viña M, Shpall EJ, Wierda WG. " Homozygous HLA Locus and Haplotype Bias among Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Suggest a Physiologic Immune Surveillance Model of Disease Control. " Leukemia. 2011 ; (25) : 1036-1039.
  Pubmed PMID: 21350559.
• Peri,Tian,Marini,Silva,Zheng,Baimbridge,Quan,Fernandes,Gahremanpour,Young,Paolillo,Mukhopadhyay,Borne,Uthamanthil, Brammar,Jackson,Decker WK,Najjar,Thomas MW,Soghomonyan,Jeong,Rios, Steiner,Robinson,Mawlawi,Pan T,Stafford,Kundra,Li C,Alauddin,Shpall,et al. " Imaging the Long-Term Fate of Mesenchymal Stem Cells after Intramyocardial Transplantation in a Porcine Model of Myocardial Infarction. " PLoS One. 2011 ; (6) : e22949.
  Pubmed PMID: 21912635.
• Sampson MJ, Decker WK, Beaudet AL, Ruitenbeek W, Hicks MJ, Craigen WJ. " Immotile sperm and infertility in mice lacking mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel type 3. " J Biol Chem. 2001 ; (276) : 39206-39212.
  Pubmed PMID: 11507092.
• Vinay ,Ryan ,Pawelec ,Talib, Stagg, Elkord, Lichtor T, Decker WK, Whelan RL, Kumara HM, Signori E, Honoki K, Georgakilas,Amin, Helferich, Boosani, Guha, Ciriolo,Chen,Mohammed, Azm,Keith,Bisland,Bhatka,Halicka,Fujii,Aquilano,Ashraf,Nowsheen,Yang,Choi,Kwon. " Immune Evasion in Cancer: Mechanistic Basis and Therapeutic Strategies " Invited Review Article. Semin Cancer Biol. 2015 ; (35) : S185-S198.
  Pubmed PMID: 25818339.
• Couch RB, Decker WK, Utama AJB, Nino D, Feng JQ, Halpert MM, Air GM. " Immunogenicity of Inactivated Avian Influenza A Vaccines in Humans: II. Evaluations for Correlates of Immunogenicity of H5, H7, and H9 Vaccines in Humans. " PLoS One. 2012 ; 7 : e50830.
  Pubmed PMID: 23239987.
• Decker WK, Halpert MM, Konduri V, Hampton CN, Safdar A.. " Immunotherapy for Invasive Mold Disease in Severely Immunosuppressed Patients – Dendritic cell immunotherapy, interferon-gamma, antifungal drugs, recombinant myeloid growth factors, and healthy donor granulocyte transfusion. " A Safdar. 2017 ; Chapter 68
• Decker WK. " In This Issue: Cellular Stress and the Adaptive Immune Response " Invited Editorial. Int Rev Immunol. 2015 ; (34) : 365-366.
  Pubmed PMID: 26366482.
• Ni X, Richmond H, Liao X, Decker WK, Shiue LH, Shpall E, Duvic M. " Induction of T-cell Responses against Cutaneous T-cell Lymphomas ex vivo by Autologous Dendritic Cells Transfected with Amplified Tumor mRNA. " J Invest Dermatol. 2008 ; (128) : 2631-2639.
  Pubmed PMID: 18480841.
• Huq AHHM, Lovell RS, Sampson MJ, Decker WK, Dinulos MB, Disteche CM, Craigen WJ. " Isolation, Mapping, and Functional Expression of the Mouse X Chromosome Glycerol Kinase Gene " Genomics. 1996 ; (36) : 530-534.
  Pubmed PMID: 8884278.
• Konduri V*, Decker WK*, Halpert MM, Gilbert B, Safdar A. " Modeling Dendritic Cell Vaccination for Influenza Prophylaxis: Potential Applications for Niche Populations. " J Infect Dis. 2013 ; 207 : 1764-72.
  Pubmed PMID: 23460750.
• Xu X, Decker W, Sampson MJ, Craigen WJ, Colombini M. " Mouse VDAC Isoforms Expressed in Yeast: Channel Properties and Their Roles in Mitochondrial Outer Membrane Permeability " J Membr Biol. 1999 ; (170) : 89-102.
  Pubmed PMID: 10430654.
• Steiner D*, Gelovani J*, Savoldo B, Robinson SN, Decker WK, Brouard N, Najjar A, Xing D, Yang H, Li S, Marini F, Zweidler-McKay PA, Bollard CM, Shpall EJ, Dotti G, Simmons PJ. " Noninvasive Bioluminescent Imaging Demonstrates Long-Term Multilineage Engraftment of Ex Vivo-Expanded CD34-Selected Umbilical Cord Blood Cells, Stem Cells " 2009 ; (27) : 1932-1940.
  Pubmed PMID: 19544439.
• Zhang Y, Qiu J, Zhou Y, Farhangfar F, Hester J, Lin AY, Decker WK. " Plasmid-Based Vaccination with Candidate Anthrax Vaccine Antigens Induces Durable Type 1 and Type 2 T-helper Immune Responses " Vaccine. 2008 ; (26) : 614-622.
  Pubmed PMID: 18166249.
• Decker WK, Shpall EJ. " Progress in Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy: Elucidating the Enigma of Th-1 Polarization, Invited Commentary " Hum Vacc. 2008 ; (4) : 162-164.
  Pubmed PMID: 18382128.
• Decker WK, Safdar A. " Prophylactic Vaccination of Cancer Patients and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients. " A Safdar. 2011 ; Chapter 51
• Ni X, Jorgensen JL, Goswami M, Challagundla P, Decker WK, Kim Y, Duvic MA. " Reduction of Regulatory T cells by Mogamulizumab " Clin Cancer Res. 2015 ; 21 : 274-285.
  Pubmed PMID: 25376389.
• Dotti G*, Tian M*, Savoldo B, Najjar A, Cooper LJN, Jackson J, Smith A, Uthamanthil R, Borne A, Brammer D, Paolillo V, Alauddin M, Gonzalez C, Steiner D, Decker WK, Marini F, Kornblau S, Shpall EJ, Gelovani J. " Repetitive noninvasive monitoring of HSV1-tk expressing T-cells in a Rhesus macaque using PET-CT with 18F-FEAU " Mol Imaging. 2009 ; (8) : 230-237.
  Pubmed PMID: 19728977.
• Robinson SN, Simmons PJ, Thomas MW, Brouard N, Javni JA, Trilok S, Shim J-S, Yang H, Steiner D, Decker WK, Xing D, Shultz LD, Savoldo B, Dotti G, Bollard CM, Miller L, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ, Zweidler-McKay PA. " Reply to Sackstein " Exp Hematol. 2012 ; (40) : 519-520.
  Pubmed PMID: 22507641.
• Pan Y, Decker WK, Huq AHHM, Craigen WJ. " Retrotransposition of glycerol kinase-related genes from the X chromosome to autosomes: Functional and evolutionary aspects " Genomics. 1999 ; (59) : 282-290.
  Pubmed PMID: 10444329.
• Decker WK, Bowles KR, Schatte EC, Towbin JA, Craigen WJ. " Revised Fine Mapping of the Human Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel Loci by Radiation Hybrid Analysis " Mamm Genome. 1999 ; (10) : 1041-1042.
  Pubmed PMID: 10501981.
• Liang V, Halpert MM, Konduri V, Decker WK. " Stepping out of the cytosol: AIMp1/p43 potentiates the link between innate and adaptive immunity " Review Article. Int Rev Immunol. 2015 ; (34) : 367-381.
  Pubmed PMID: 26325028.
• Robinson SN, Ng J, Niu T, Yang H, McMannis JD, Karandish S, Fu P, Del Angel M, Messinger R, Flagge F, deLima M, Decker W, Xing D, Champlin RE, Shpall EJ. " Superior ex vivo cord blood expansion following co-culture with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells " Bone Marrow Transplant. 2006 ; (37) : 359-366.
  Pubmed PMID: 16400333.
• Decker WK.. " The Role of the Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel in Apoptotic Cell Death: Knowns, Unknowns, and Future Prospects. " Baylor College of Medicine. 2001 ;
• Decker WK, Craigen WJ. " The Tissue-Specific, Alternatively-Spliced Single ATG Exon of the Type 3 Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel Gene does not Create a Truncated Protein Isoform In Vivo " Mol Genet Metab. 2000 ; (70) : 69-74.
  Pubmed PMID: 10833333.
• Sampson MJ, Ross LO, Decker WK, Craigen WJ. " A novel isoform of the mitochondrial outer membrane protein VDAC3 via alternative splicing of a 3-base exon. Functional characteristics and subcellular localization " J Biol Chem. 1998 ; (273) : 30482-30486.
  Pubmed PMID: 9804816.
• Konduri V, Halpert MM, Baig YC, Coronado R, Rodgers JR, Levitt JM, Cerroni B, Piscoya S, Wilson N, DiBernardi L, Omarbekov Z, Seelhoff L, Ravi V, Douglass L, Decker WK. " Dendritic cell vaccination plus low-dose doxorubicin for the treatment of spontaneous canine hemangiosarcoma " Cancer Gene Ther. 2019 ;
  Pubmed PMID: 30670791.