Ramiro Martinez

The emergence of checkpoint inhibition therapies (CITs) have revolutionized the treatment of cancers. While CITs greatly improve standard of care, many cancers exhibit low responses rates. This is particularly the case for lung cancers. Identifying novel targets to enhance response rates, avoid T-cell exhaustion or even to render unresponsive tumors sensitive to these treatments could significantly increase the number of patients subjectable to these game-changing therapies. Pathways leading to such heterogeneous treatment response remain incompletely charted. While lncRNAs have been demonstrated to act as transcription regulators, their involvement in T-cell activation or immune evasion has poorly if not been investigated. Given the need to enhance the reach of immune therapy into less responsive cases, we aim to systematically identify lncRNAs capable of modulating CIT response in lung cancer. Our hypothesis is that lncRNAs constitute an important, untapped and very convenient pool of targets to enhance immunotherapy response using ASO-based therapies.
 

• Postal and laboratory address: Medical Research Building 1 (MRB1) (entrance 34), Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
• Ramiro Martinez is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks