Microbiota and Antitumor Immunity

Luigi Nezi

Group Leader

*Email*	Luigi.Nezi@ieo.it
*Telephone*	+39 02 94375171
*Location*	Building 13 Floor 2nd Via Adamello 16, Milano

The most recent estimate of microbes populating the human body is around 40 trillion, meaning that we are made of bacteria at least as much of human cells and they coexist on our body as result of a dynamic equilibrium between Darwinian competition and cooperation. There is a growing appreciation of the role of the microbiome in cancer-related outcomes and our recent work demonstrated that differential bacterial “signatures” exist in the gut of melanoma patients that responded (R) or not (NR) to immunotherapy. Building on the synergy between scientists from different backgrounds to bridge the chasm between the bench and the clinic, our lab is seeking for innovative strategies to improve cancer prevention and response to immunotherapy by manipulating the human microbiome. We are interested in molecular mechanisms that regulate the crosstalk between innate and adaptive immune system in response to modulation of the microbiome, in particular in the gut.

We are performing multiOMIC analysis and developing new ex vivo and in vivo systems to create:

Diagnostic tools, that could by reveal high-risk subjects or potential R and NR patients, and guide subsequent prophylactic treatments or immune-based therapeutic choices.
Personalized interventions, by combining biotic and abiotic formulations to promote cancer prevention or turn an NR in an R.

Most Relevant Publications

Gopalakrishnan V, Spencer CN, Nezi L, Reuben A, Andrews MC, Karpinets TV, Prieto PA, Vicente D, Hoffman K, Wei SC, Cogdill AP, Zhao L, Hudgens CW, Hutchinson DS, Manzo T, Petaccia de Macedo M, Cotechini T, Kumar T, Chen WS, Reddy SM, Szczepaniak Sloane R, Galloway-Pena J, Jiang H, Chen PL, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K, Alousi AM, Chemaly RF, Shelburne S, Vence LM, Okhuysen PC, Jensen VB, Swennes AG, McAllister F, Marcelo Riquelme Sanchez E, Zhang Y, Le Chatelier E, Zitvogel L, Pons N, Austin-Breneman JL, Haydu LE, Burton EM, Gardner JM, Sirmans E, Hu J, Lazar AJ, Tsujikawa T, Diab A, Tawbi H, Glitza IC, Hwu WJ, Patel SP, Woodman SE, Amaria RN, Davies MA, Gershenwald JE, Hwu P, Lee JE, Zhang J, Coussens LM, Cooper ZA, Futreal PA, Daniel CR, Ajami NJ, Petrosino JF, Tetzlaff MT, Sharma P, Allison JP, Jenq RR, Wargo JA

Gut microbiome modulates response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in melanoma patients.

Science, 2018
Carugo A, Genovese G, Seth S, Nezi L, Rose JL, Bossi D, Cicalese A, Shah PK, Viale A, Pettazzoni PF, Akdemir KC, Bristow CA, Robinson FS, Tepper J, Sanchez N, Gupta S, Estecio MR, Giuliani V, Dellino GI, Riva L, Yao W, Di Francesco ME, Green T, D'Alesio C, Corti D, Kang Y, Jones P, Wang H, Fleming JB, Maitra A, Pelicci PG, Chin L, DePinho RA, Lanfrancone L, Heffernan TP, Draetta GF

In Vivo Functional Platform Targeting Patient-Derived Xenografts Identifies WDR5-Myc Association as a Critical Determinant of Pancreatic Cancer.

Cell Rep, 2016
Crasta K1, Ganem NJ, Dagher R, Lantermann AB, Ivanova EV, Pan Y, Nezi L, Protopopov A, Chowdhury D, Pellman D

DNA breaks and chromosome pulverization from errors in mitosis.

Nature, 2012

Principal Investigators

Microbiota and Antitumor Immunity

Luigi Nezi

Most Relevant Publications

Gut microbiome modulates response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in melanoma patients.

In Vivo Functional Platform Targeting Patient-Derived Xenografts Identifies WDR5-Myc Association as a Critical Determinant of Pancreatic Cancer.

DNA breaks and chromosome pulverization from errors in mitosis.

Postdoc

PhD Student

Undergraduate Student

Research projects