SPECIAL SEMINAR - Dr Aurélie TCHOGHANDJIAN - Institute of Neurophysiopathology INP - CNRS UMR7051 - MARSEILLE

Targeting the fatal synergy : glioblastoma stemness and immunosuppression as therapeutic vulnerabilities

Dr Aurélie TCHOGHANDJIAN

Research Director - Co-leader of the Gliomagenesis and Microenvironment (GlioME) team

Institute of Neurophysiopathology - INP - CNRS UMR7051 - Aix-Marseille University

Abstract:
Glioblastoma is a devastating brain tumor in adult. The main factors of treatment resistance that we have identified are stemness, cell plasticity and immunosuppression. We identified ML-IAP, an inhibitor of apoptosis protein, as a marker of poor prognosis in GBM. Notably, we recently found that ML-IAP is expressed exclusively by certain TAM subsets that we pre-identified, including those localizing in hypoxic tumor regions. Using a ML-IAP inhibitor, we demonstrated that the GBM immune landscape could be shifted toward an anti-tumor response. In addition to its implication in immunosuppression, we are currently demonstrating that ML-IAP is a driver of cell plasticity and treatment resistance.