MDSCs in cancer
MDSCs play key roles in tumor progression, escape from dormancy, vascularization and the establishment of an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.
We are interested in studying their mechanisms of action, interactions with neighboring cells, and molecular changes in different conditions, in order to utilize them as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and to develop potential treatment strategies. Studies from our lab demonstrated that the preferential recruitment of MDSCs into highly vascular tumors is associated with unique transcriptional programs, and that their proangiogenic transcriptional response is similar to that demonstrated in other proangiogenic processes such as placenta formation and endometriosis.
Additionally, we showed that the transcriptional profile of circulating MDSCs correlates with different stages of tumor progression, and the potential use of this transcriptional fingerprint as a tumor biomarker in patients with pancreatic and liver cancer is currently being assessed in a clinical study.
