{"id":561,"date":"2024-12-04T10:13:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T16:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.uthscsa.edu\/cio\/?page_id=561"},"modified":"2026-10-02T14:13:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T19:13:44","slug":"tumorigenesis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.uthscsa.edu\/cio\/research\/tumorigenesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Immune Elements Constitute a Microenvironment Permissive for Tumorigenesis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]A permissive immune microenvironment is <\/span>required<\/span> for <\/span>inherited genet<\/span>ic variants<\/span> to <\/span>result in cancer development. <\/span>Germline genetics can also <\/span>impact<\/span> immune function<\/span> to <\/span>modify<\/span> cancer risk.<\/span> Therefore, at<\/span> the CIO we are studying the <\/span>changes in immune function that occur at the earliest stages of <\/span>ovarian cancer development<\/span>,<\/span> contrasting immune composition and function in normal tissues, cancer precursors, early <\/span>cancers<\/span> and advanced cancers to pinpoint the earliest hallmarks of dysfunction.<\/span> These multidisciplinary projects involve <\/span>single cell <\/span>transcriptomic<\/span>, epigenomic analysis of human tissues, spatial <\/span>transcriptomics\/proteomics, <\/span><\/span>in vitro<\/span><\/span> heterotypic<\/span> co-culture <\/span>and organoid <\/span>models and <\/span><\/span>in vivo<\/span><\/span> tumor models.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″]