Publications by authors named "Sheri A C McDowell"
Article Synopsis
- Somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs), especially arm-level SCNAs, are linked to cancer growth and resistance to treatment, but their role in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is not well understood.
- In this study, researchers found that certain arm-level SCNAs, like gains at 21q and 7p, are connected to poorer survival rates in TNBC patients, with the gene RIPK4 on 21q being particularly significant.
- Targeting RIPK4 in experiments showed promise, as it reduced tumor growth and improved survival by enhancing immune cell infiltration, suggesting RIPK4 could be a key factor in TNBC progression and its ability to spread.
Article Synopsis
- - Obesity can cause inflammation in the body and make cancer spread faster, especially breast cancer spreading to the lungs.
- - Researchers discovered that certain immune cells called monocytes work with other immune cells called neutrophils to help breast cancer spread in people who are obese.
- - They found that these monocytes change and become more active when someone is obese, which helps in the cancer spreading process.
Neutrophils are major effectors and regulators of the immune system. They play critical roles not only in the eradication of pathogens but also in cancer initiation and progression. Conversely, the presence of cancer affects neutrophil activity, maturation, and lifespan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Immunotherapy has revolutionized clinical outcomes for patients suffering from lung cancer, yet relatively few patients sustain long-term durable responses. Recent studies have demonstrated that the tumor immune microenvironment fosters tumorous heterogeneity and mediates both disease progression and response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). As such, there is an unmet need to elucidate the spatially defined single-cell landscape of the lung cancer microenvironment to understand the mechanisms of disease progression and identify biomarkers of response to ICI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and obesity is associated with increased breast cancer (BC) metastasis. Preclinical studies have shown that obese adipose tissue induces lung neutrophilia associated with enhanced BC metastasis to this site. Here we show that obesity leads to neutrophil-dependent impairment of vascular integrity through loss of endothelial adhesions, enabling cancer cell extravasation into the lung.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmunological Regulation of Vascular Inflammation During Cancer Metastasis.
Front Immunol
October 2020
Metastasis is the predominant cause of cancer-related mortality, despite being a highly inefficient process overall. The vasculature is the gatekeeper for tumor cell seeding within the secondary tissue microenvironment-the rate limiting step of the metastatic cascade. Therefore, factors that regulate vascular physiology dramatically influence cancer outcomes.
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