Alba Sánchez Montalvo

Mrs. Alba Sánchez Montalvo


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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12 June 2020 in Cancers
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MPMaría Pulido
María Pulido
VCVirginia Chamorro
Virginia Chamorro
IRIrene Romero
Irene Romero
IAIgnacio Algarra
Ignacio Algarra
AMAlba Sánchez Montalvo
Alba Sánchez Montalvo
AGAngel Garcia-Lora
Angel Garcia-Lora
The capacity of cytotoxic-T lymphocytes to recognize and destroy tumor cells depends on the surface expression by tumor cells of MHC class I molecules loaded with tumor antigen peptides. Loss of MHC-I expression is the most frequent mechanism by which tumor cells evade the immune response. The restoration of MHC-I expression in cancer cells is crucial to enhance their immune destruction, especially in response to cancer immunotherapy. Using mouse models, we recovered MHC-I expression in the MHC-I negative tumor cell lines and analyzed their oncological and immunological profile. Fhit gene transfection induces the restoration of MHC-I expression in highly oncogenic MHC-I-negative murine tumor cell lines and genes of the IFN-γ transduction signal pathway are involved. Fhit-transfected tumor cells proved highly immunogenic, being rejected by a T lymphocyte-mediated immune response. Strikingly, this immune rejection was more frequent in females than in males. The immune response generated protected hosts against the tumor growth of non-transfected cells and against other tumor cells in our murine tumor model. Finally, we also observed a direct correlation between FHIT expression and HLA-I surface expression in human breast tumors. Recovery of Fhit expression on MHC class I negative tumor cells may be a useful immunotherapeutic strategy and may even act as an individualized immunotherapeutic vaccine.