Laura Mora Bitria

Short description of my project:

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is a targeted therapy that has shown dramatic and long- lasting responses. ICB aims at triggering the host immune system to eliminate the tumor. Monoclonal antibodies targeting the programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1), the programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and cytotoxic T and lymphocyte-associated molecule-4 (CTLA-4) have been studied for several years now and some of them have been approved for cancer treatment. Despite the well-known success of these drugs, the response rate is still low and there is a high incidence of immune-related adverse events. This underpins the lack of understanding of the pathways involved.

In my project I aim at identifying additional biomarkers which may result in better patient selection and provide insights into resistance mechanisms. I will explore the role of other immune checkpoint pathways to see whether they have a clinically relevant impact on their own and/or in current immunotherapy regimes. To do so, I will convey immunogenetic analysis of different cancer cohorts. I will also develop mathematical models to gain insights into the cellular mechanisms of T cell killing of tumor cells and the effect of immune checkpoint modulation in this context.