Hi-TIDe : Tumor microenvironment and biomarker discovery laboratory

Our main research interest is to gain a deep understanding of the tumor-intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that promote or dampen anti-tumor T cell immunity.

• Understand deeply the molecular states of TILs (Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes) and the tumor microenvironment at stages of tumor escape or tumor rejection.
• Describe fundamental molecular mechanisms of tumor and tumor microenvironment (TME)-induced TIL dysfunction through scRNA sequencing, ATACseq and systems immunology approaches
• Characterize tumor and stroma-driven exclusion mechanisms of TILs
• Development of autologous 3D TME and systems immunology models as surrogate systems to evaluate TIL-ACT reactivity ex vivo 
• How genomic alterations (ie homologous recombination repair deficiency, HRD) and tumor heterogeneity regulate TIL inflammation status of tumors

• Dangaj D, Bruand M, Grimm AJ, Ronet C, Barras D, Duttagupta PA, Lanitis E, Duraiswamy J, Tanyi JL, Benencia F, Conejo-Garcia J, Ramay HR, Montone KT, Powell DJ Jr, Gimotty PA, Facciabene A, Jackson DG, Weber JS, Rodig SJ, Hodi SF, Kandalaft LE, Irving M, Zhang L, Foukas P, Rusakiewicz S, Delorenzi M, Coukos G. "Cooperation between Constitutive and Inducible Chemokines Enables T Cell Engraftment and Immune Attack in Solid Tumors." Cancer Cell. 2019 Jun 10;35(6):885-900.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.05.004.
• Dangaj D*, Barras D*, Coukos G. "Tumor Landscapes: β-Catenin Drives Immune Desertification. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 May 15;25(10):2943-2945. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.
• Bobisse S, Genolet R, Roberti A, Tanyi JL, Racle J, Stevenson BJ, Iseli C, Michel A, Le Bitoux MA, Guillaume P, Schmidt J, Bianchi V, Dangaj D, Fenwick C, Derré L, Xenarios I, Michielin O, Romero P, Monos DS, Zoete V, Gfeller D, Kandalaft LE, Coukos G, Harari A. "Sensitive and frequent identification of high avidity neo-epitope specific CD8 ⁺ T cells in immunotherapy-naive ovarian cancer." Nat Commun. 2018 Mar 15;9(1):1092. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03301-0.
• Lanitis E, Dangaj D, Irving M, Coukos G. "Mechanisms regulating T-cell infiltration and activity in solid tumors." Ann Oncol. 2017 Dec 1;28(suppl_12):xii18-xii32. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdx238.
• Zsiros E, Duttagupta P, Dangaj D, Li H, Frank R, Garrabrant T, Hagemann IS, Levine BL, June CH, Zhang L, Wang E, Marincola FM, Bedognetti D, Powell DJ Jr, Tanyi J, Feldman MD, Kandalaft LE, Coukos G."The Ovarian Cancer Chemokine Landscape Is Conducive to Homing of Vaccine-Primed and CD3/CD28-Costimulated T Cells Prepared for Adoptive Therapy." Clin Cancer Res. 2015 Jun 15;21(12):2840-50. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-14-2777.