Kenneth Rock

Kenneth Rock has elucidated the role of the immunoproteasome in generating peptides for MHC-I presentation, showing that cancer cells downregulate immunoproteasome subunits to alter their peptide repertoire and evade T cell recognition. His work defined how IFN-gamma induces immunoproteasome assembly, enhancing generation of immunogenic peptides. He has revealed that immunoproteasome deficiency is a common immune evasion mechanism exploited by tumors.