Eleonora Dondossola
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) makes up about 80% of kidney cancers. About 40% of patients whose cancer spreads develop bone metastases, which cause severe illness and higher risk of death.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
clear cell renal cell carcinoma
ccRCC
kidney cancer
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2031
What they work on
- Define the cell types, gene activity states and real-time behavior of the ccRCC bone metastasis environment in mice, combining multiphoton microscopy in living animals and removed tissue with single-cell RNA sequencing.
- Identify the cellular and molecular changes behind response and resistance to standard tyrosine kinase inhibitor plus immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in mouse models of kidney cancer bone metastasis.
- Test CAR-NK cells, natural killer immune cells engineered to recognize cancer, as a new treatment for ccRCC bone metastases, and track how they act and what outcomes they produce.
More about the research
Bone biopsies are hard to obtain, and sick patients are often left out of trials. As a result, little is known about how the bone environment, including its support cells and immune cells, helps these tumors grow. Standard first-line treatment combines two kinds of drugs. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) block blood vessel growth. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) release the brakes on immune cells. Resistance to this combination always develops. CAR-NK cells, natural killer immune cells engineered to recognize cancer, are a promising option for cancers that no longer respond to treatment.
Why it matters
Bone metastasis is a deadly and treatment-resistant complication of advanced kidney cancer. By showing how the bone environment helps tumors escape standard TKI plus immunotherapy treatment, and by testing engineered natural killer cells, this work could guide more effective, biology-based treatments for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Srinivas Malladi
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how TEAD, a gene-switching transcription factor, drives AXL expression and brain metastasis in dormant, therapy-resistant HER2-positive breast cancer cells, using the lab's brain metastasis models.
Joshua T Mendell
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Biochemistry
Determine how altering dihydrouridine synthase (DUS) activity changes D modifications on tRNAs, overall tRNA metabolism and the PTMD mRNA-decay pathway in human and mouse ccRCC cells.
Yin Xi
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Measure blood flow in clear cell renal cell carcinoma with arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI and test whether it matches tumor regions with molecular changes that drive new blood vessel growth, such as HIF and VEGF activity.
The school
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: 23 labs on PI Pages, $1.4B a year on research.
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