Rogerio De Figueiredo
PhD
rogerio.defigueiredo@utu.fi Office: 4007 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3680-4070 |
Cancer Immunobiology and Immunotherapy; pharmacology and biochemistry with emphasis in drug discovery.
In Europe, the highest incidence rates of melanoma occur in Nordic countries and Switzerland, where the inhabitants are predominantly light-skinned. In Finland, melanoma is the 5th most prevalent form of cancer with 1.669 new cases per year (Globocan 2018, WHO).
Immunotherapies that target immune checkpoint regulatory (ICR) molecules, such as the cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), also called immune checkpoint blockers (ICB) have become standard treatments for metastatic melanoma and other cancer types, achieving impressive clinical improvements.
However, only a subset of cancer patients shows clinical benefits with these treatments. In metastatic melanoma, 20% of patients with distant metastasis achieve 5-year survival following immunotherapies using ICB, and the vast majority are refractory or will relapse the initial treatments by developing resistance mechanisms.
Therefore, understanding the fundamental mechanisms that underlie ICB resistance in metastatic melanoma, and developing strategies that mitigate these mechanisms are critical steps to unleash the full power of ICBs.
By applying state-of-the-art technologies, including Mass Cytometry and Digital Spatial Profiling (NanoString), we are uncovering novel pathways associated with ICB resistance, mostly involved in the mechanisms of T lymphocyte suppression, which will provide new directions towards combinatory therapies for metastatic cutaneous and uveal melanoma.
These strategies are based on the combination of new drugs developed in my group, the Melanoma Immune Oncology Research Group (MIORG), or the validation of already approved molecules in clinical trials for the management of other diseases. These treatments are selected as potential candidates to modulate or reverse the immune profile of metastatic melanoma associated with innate and acquired resistance to immunotherapies.
My research is aligned with sustainable development by engaging a participatory society for citizens. We are committed to promoting equal opportunities to enable all people to have access to the most recent updates related to the field of metastatic melanoma prognostication and therapy in Finland and worldwide.
At the Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool, UK.
2018 - 2019 Lectures in the North West Cancer Research Seminar Series. Topic: Immunotherapy and Immune profile of Melanoma
At the
Experimental Oncology Unit, Federal University of São Paulo.
2015 - 2017 Lectures on Cancer Immunology and Advanced Molecular and Cellular Immunology at the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology.
At the Ibirapuera University, São Paulo
2015 - 2016 Lectures on Immunology, Microbiology, Epidemiology, Health promotion in the elderly, Molecular Biology
- Applying Single-Cell Technology in Uveal Melanomas: Current Trends and Perspectives for Improving Uveal Melanoma Metastasis Surveillance and Tumor Profiling (2021)
- Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Identification of very small cancer stem cells expressing hallmarks of pluripotency in B16F10 melanoma cells and their reoccurrence in B16F10-derived clones (2020)
- Experimental Cell Research
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Immunomodulatory Protective Effects of Rb9 Cyclic-Peptide in a Metastatic Melanoma Setting and the Involvement of Dendritic Cells (2020)
- Frontiers in Immunology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Loss of BAP1 Expression Is Associated With an Immunosuppressive Microenvironment in Uveal Melanoma, With Implications for Immunotherapy Development. (2020)
- Journal of Pathology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - New tools to prevent cancer growth and spread: a 'Clever' approach (2020)
- British Journal of Cancer
(Refereed review article in scientific journal (A2)) - Transcriptome Profiling Reveals New Insights into the Immune Microenvironment and Upregulation of Novel Biomarkers in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma (2020)
- Cancers
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - CDR-1 Rb44 Peptide, Which Targets the Microtubule Network in Melanoma Cells (2019)
- Frontiers in Oncology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Using Mass-Cytometry approach for the characterisation of the microenvironment of primary uveal melanoma (2019)
- Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Blockade of insulin-like growth factors increases efficacy of paclitaxel in metastatic breast cancer (2018)
- Oncogene
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Blockade of MIF-CD74 Signalling on Macrophages and Dendritic Cells Restores the Antitumour Immune Response Against Metastatic Melanoma (2018)
- Frontiers in Immunology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Recent breakthroughs in metastatic uveal melanoma: a cause for optimism? (2018)
- Future Oncology
(Refereed review article in scientific journal (A2)) - BFD-22 a new potential inhibitor of BRAF inhibits the metastasis of B16F10 melanoma cells and simultaneously increased the tumor immunogenicity (2016)
- Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - A novel microtubule de-stabilizing complementarity-determining region C36L1 peptide displays antitumor activity against melanoma in vitro and in vivo (2015)
- Scientific Reports
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - RPF151, a novel capsaicin-like analogue: in vitro studies and in vivo preclinical antitumor evaluation in a breast cancer model (2015)
- Tumor Biology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Anti-tumor activities of peptides corresponding to conserved complementary determining regions from different immunoglobulins (2014)
- Peptides
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Cytotoxic effects of dillapiole on MDA-MB-231 cells involve the induction of apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway by inducing an oxidative stress while altering the cytoskeleton network (2014)
- Biochimie
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - β-Actin-binding complementarity-determining region 2 of variable heavy chain from monoclonal antibody C7 induces apoptosis in several human tumor cells and is protective against metastatic melanoma (2012)
- Journal of Biological Chemistry
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - A new phage-display tumor-homing peptide fused to antiangiogenic peptide generates a novel bioactive molecule with antimelanoma activity (2011)
- Molecular Cancer Research
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1)) - Role of SOCS-1 Gene on Melanoma Cell Growth and Tumor Development (2011)
- Translational Oncology
(Refereed journal article or data article (A1))