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Immuno-Oncology

Research lines

The main line of research is the study of new immune checkpoint proteins as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in cancer treatment.

Group activities

Immunotherapies have emerged as promising new strategies to combat cancer, but many patients do not respond, or develop resistance to current treatments, emphasizing the need to find new biomarkers and therapeutic targets and to advance the knowledge of the mechanisms of metastasis and resistance. This constitutes an important clinical, scientific and social challenge, which is specifically addressed in our emerging group. Our group studies, through state-of-the-art experimental approaches and omics sciences of basic and clinical data, the expression, function, and involvement in resistance to therapies of a group of immune control proteins of the B7 family. Our work seeks to facilitate better diagnosis and personalized, more effective treatment for patients with cancer that is difficult to cure. To develop new alternative and more effective therapies, it is essential to understand the action and mechanisms of B7 co-inhibitory immune checkpoint proteins involved in the immune response, tumorigenesis and pre-metastatic niche.

Foto grupo
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Figure

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Figure: The B7 proteins are shown with the co-inhibitory receptors they interact with on immune cells. Unknown receptors are indicated with a question mark. Proteins targeted by immunotherapy are shown bound to an antibody molecule.

Grupo members

Articles of the group

Pallares Sastre M, Amayra I, Pulido R, Nunes Xavier CE, Banuelos S, Cavaliere F, et al. Cognitive and Adaptive Functioning of CTNNB1 Syndrome Patients: A Comparison With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Cerebral Palsy. J Intell Disabil Res. 2025; 69(7): 558-568. DOI:10.1111/jir.13235.

Larrinaga G, Solano Iturri JD, Arrieta Aguirre I, Valdivia A, Lecumberri D, Iturregui AM, et al. Prognostic and Therapeutic Implications of Alamandine Receptor MrgD Expression in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma with Development of Metastatic Disease. Biomolecules. 2025; 15(3). DOI:10.3390/biom15030387.

Pallarès Sastre M, Amayra I, Pulido R, Nunes Xavier CE, Bañuelos S, Cavaliere F, et al. Novel CTNNB1 Gene Variants in Spanish CTNNB1 Syndrome Patients: Clinical and Psychological Manifestations. J Autism Dev Disord. 2025. DOI:10.1007/s10803-025-06829-5; 10.1007/s10803-025-06829-5.

Torices L, Nunes Xavier CE, Pulido R. Therapeutic Potential of Translational Readthrough at Disease-Associated Premature Termination Codons From Tumor Suppressor Genes. IUBMB Life. 2025; 77(5): 70018-70018. DOI:10.1002/iub.70018.

Emaldi M, Alamillo-Maeso P, Rey-Iborra E, Mosteiro L, Lecumberri D, Pulido R, et al. A functional role for glycosylated B7-H5/VISTA immune checkpoint protein in metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma. iScience. 2024; 27(9):110587. DOI:10.1016/j.isci.2024.110587.

Pulido R, López JI, Nunes-Xavier CE. B7-H3: a robust target for immunotherapy in prostate cancer. Trends Cancer. 2024; 10(7):584-587. DOI:10.1016/j.trecan.2024.05.003.

Nunes-Xavier CE. Editorial: Co-inhibitory immune checkpoint proteins as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in cancer. Transl Oncol. 2024; 47:102005. DOI:10.1016/j.tranon.2024.102005.

Emaldi M, Rey-Iborra E, Marín Á, Mosteiro L, Lecumberri D, Øyjord T, et al. Impact of B7-H3 expression on metastasis, immune exhaustion and JAK/STAT and PI3K/AKT pathways in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Oncoimmunology. 2024; 13(1):2419686. DOI:10.1080/2162402X.2024.2419686.

Torices L, Nunes-Xavier CE, Mingo J, Luna S, Erramuzpe A, Cortés JM, et al. Induction of Translational Readthrough on Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases Targeted by Premature Termination Codon Mutations in Human Disease. Methods Mol Biol. 2024; 2743:1-19. DOI:10.1007/978-1-0716-3569-8_1

Torices L, Nunes-Xavier CE, Pulido R. Potentiation by Protein Synthesis Inducers of Translational Readthrough of Pathogenic Premature Termination Codons in PTEN Isoforms. Cancers (Basel). 2024; 16(16):2836. DOI:10.3390/cancers16162836.

Angulo JC, Larrinaga G, Lecumberri D, Iturregui AM, Solano-Iturri JD, Lawrie CH, et al. Predicting Survival of Metastatic Clear Cell Renal Cell Cancer Treated with VEGFR-TKI-Based Sequential Therapy. Cancers (Basel). 2024; 16(16):2786. DOI:10.3390/cancers16162786.

Torices L, Nunes Xavier C, Lopez JI, Pulido R. Novel anti-PTEN C2 domain monoclonal antibodies to analyse the expression and function of PTEN isoform variants. PLoS One. 2023; 18(8). DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0289369.

Nunes Xavier CE, Emaldi M, Mingo J, Oyjord T, Maelandsmo GM, Fodstad O, et al. The expression pattern of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinases predicts prognosis and correlates with immune exhaustion in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1). DOI:10.1038/s41598-023-34087-x.

López JI, Hogan MF, Sutton B, Church SE, Angulo JC, Nunes-Xavier CE. Distinct spatial landscapes in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma as revealed by whole transcriptome analysis. Immunooncol Technol. 2023; 21: 100690. DOI:10.1016/j.iotech.2023.100690.

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