University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
MD Anderson was created by an act of the Texas Legislature in 1941, making it a part of The University of Texas System and was established by the National Cancer Act of 1971. Today it is one of 49 Comprehensive Cancer Centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. The cancer center provided care for more than 137,000 patients in Fiscal Year 2017 and employs more than 20,000 people.
Clark L. Anderson
1. The Fcγ Receptor (FcγR) family of molecules. Anderson's early work on identifying and characterizing the high affinity FcγRI and low affinity FcγRII for IgG on human monocytes and other cells was aided by his development of monoclonal antibodies (mab) to both of these receptors, mab 32.2 (US Patent US4954617A awarded in 1990) to the former in collaboration with Michael Fanger and Paul Guyre, and mab IV.3 to the latter in collaboration with R. John Looney. To facilitate the clinical application of these antibodies, Anderson enabled the establishment by Fanger and Guyre of Medarex, Inc., a biotech company since acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb for 2.4 billion $US. Further studies by Anderson showed FcRI to be associated with the FcRγ chain, and that both receptors upon clustering mediated intracellular kinase cascades that triggered various biological effects. This early work catalyzed an avalanche of studies that have allowed the elaboration of the FcγR family of proteins, now known to consist of several genes (8 in human, 5 in mouse), over 20 transcripts, and at least 9 expressed protein receptors; further, it has become clear that clustering of these receptors results in a variety of biological effects such as superoxide and cytokine output, cell-mediated killing, endocytosis, all resulting in removal of the antigen and perversely in disease-causing auto-immune effects.