A permissive immune microenvironment is required for inherited genetic variants to result in cancer development. Germline genetics can also impact immune function to modify cancer risk. Therefore, at the CIO we are studying the changes in immune function that occur at the earliest stages of ovarian cancer development, contrasting immune composition and function in normal tissues, cancer precursors, early cancers and advanced cancers to pinpoint the earliest hallmarks of dysfunction. These multidisciplinary projects involve single cell transcriptomic, epigenomic analysis of human tissues, spatial transcriptomics/proteomics, in vitro heterotypic co-culture and organoid models and in vivo tumor models.
| Funding | Grant Title | Publication |
|---|---|---|
| DOD; HT9425261E121 | Do Epithelial Mutations and Exhausted T Cells Conspire to Create a Tumor-Prone Niche for Endometriosis-Associated Ovarian Cancer Development? | PMID: 40938538 |
| PMID: 36977195 | ||
| PMID: 36624343 | ||
| PMID: 35492879 |