Analisa DiFeo
University of Michigan, MI·Medicine & Clinical Research
High grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), the most common type of ovarian cancer, is among the deadliest cancers in women. This is largely because tumors return and stop responding to chemotherapy.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Genetics
- Topics
ovarian cancer
high grade serous carcinoma
miR-181a
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2028
What they work on
- Determine how loss of the microRNA miR-181a affects immune cell infiltration and interferon signaling in patient-derived ovarian tumor organoids, with and without a STING agonist or anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy.
- Test in vivo whether miR-181a levels change ovarian tumors' sensitivity to STING agonists or anti-PD-L1 treatment.
- Assess whether activating miR-181a, alone or together with loss of various tumor suppressor genes, is sufficient to drive tumor formation in mice.
More about the research
Immunotherapies that unleash the immune system have so far failed in HGSC, mostly because these tumors build a strongly immunosuppressive environment. A main way tumors do this is by shutting down STING (Stimulator of Interferon Genes). STING detects stray DNA inside cells and switches on interferon signaling, an antiviral-style alarm that attracts immune attack.
Why it matters
Women with high grade serous ovarian cancer have few effective options once tumors recur or resist chemotherapy, and current immunotherapies largely fail. If blocking miR-181a can reactivate STING-driven immune signaling, combining it with STING agonists or anti-PD-L1 drugs could become a strategy to make these tumors respond to immune-based treatment.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Yang Yang-Hartwich
Yale University, CT·Genetics
Define how NR2F2, a gene-regulating nuclear receptor, controls the migration and adhesion of ovarian cancer cells that drive spread through the peritoneal cavity.
Yaguang Xi
University of Georgia, GA·Pharmacology
Determine how the oncogenic microRNA miR-10b and its target gene NR4A3 contribute to the experimental compound LG007's activity against triple-negative breast cancer.
Karen Swanson
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Microbiology & Immunology
Define the mechanism by which the human protein STING, normally an antiviral sensor, acts as a host factor supporting genome replication of rhinovirus species RV-A and RV-C but not RV-B.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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