Laboratory of Immunotherapy
Head: Luca Vannucci
Prague node
HOME INSTITUTION
Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
RESEARCH PROGRAMME(S)
RP 2 - Research and development of anticancer pharmaceuticals and therapeutic methods
Don’t worry and try again: we will overcome cancer!
- Mission: To unveil immunity-collagen interactions producing the tumor niche and its progression.
- Vision: To find new diagnostic and therapeutic targets to early detect tumors and sustain the anticancer immune response.
Our laboratory performs research mainly in the field of immunology of the tumor microenvironment. Studying the development of tumors in experimental models that allow to follow their evolution, we evaluate: – how important structures of tissues adapt to the development of the tumor, – how these changes depend on local immunological phenomena – how these phenomena may favor the development of the tumor or its removal – how we can increase or re-activate our defenses against cancer and metastasis both at local (in the tumor) and systemic (in the organism) levels. Inflammation is a basic immune function that can variously modulate the tumor evolution and, when it is deregulated, can activate the tissue remodelling.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- Taborska P, Lukac P, Stakheev D, Rajsiglova L, Kalkusova K, Strnadova K, Lacina L, Dvorankova B, Novotny J, Kolar M, Vrana M, Cechova H, Ransdorfova S, Valerianova M, Smetana K Jr, Vannucci L, Smrz D. Novel PD-L1- and collagen-expressing patient-derived cell line of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (JBT19) as a model for cancer immunotherapy. Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 4;13(1):19079. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46305-7
- Mucciolo G, Curcio C, Roux C, Li WY, Capello M, Curto R, Chiarle R, Giordano D, Satolli MA, Lawlor R, Scarpa A, Lukac P, Stakheev D, Provero P, Vannucci L, Mak TW, Novelli F, Cappello P. IL17A critically shapes the transcriptional program of fibroblasts in pancreatic cancer and switches on their protumorigenic functions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Feb 9;118(6):e2020395118. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020395118
- Čaja F, Stakheev D, Chernyavskiy O, Kubinová L, Křížan J, Dvořák J, Rossmann P, Štěpánková R, Makovický P, Makovický P, Vymetalková V, Souček P, Vodička P, Vodičková L, Levý M, Vannucci LE. Local Immune Changes in Early Stages of Inflammation and Carcinogenesis Correlate with the Collagen Scaffold Changes of the Colon Mucosa. Cancers (Basel). 2021 May 18;13(10):2463. DOI: 10.3390/cancers13102463
- Tenti P, Vannucci L. Lysyl oxidases: linking structures and immunity in the tumor microenvironment. Cancer Immunol Immunother.2020 Feb; 69(2):223-235. DOI: 10.1007/s00262-019-02404-x
- Vannucci L, Falvo E, Fornara M, Di Micco P, Benada O, Krizan J, Svoboda J, Hulikova-Capkova K, Morea V, Boffi A, Ceci P. Selective targeting of melanoma by PEG-masked protein-based multifunctional nanoparticles. Int J Nanomedicine. 2012;7:1489-509. DOI: 10.2147/IJN.S28242
SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE AND TECHNOLOGY
2D, 3D in vitro tumor models, in vivo tumor models in animals
Portfolio of cell biological and immunological methods
1-, 2-photon confocal microscopy on fresh and fixed samples, immunohistochemistry, FACS analysis, cell sorting, PCR, WB
COLLABORATION WITH LARGE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES AND RESEARCH CENTRES
National infrastructure for biological and biomedical imaging Czech-Bioimaging
Biotechnology and Biomedicine Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Charles University BIOCEV
Center for Advanced Preclinical Imaging CAPI