Titles and Affiliations
Assistant Professor
Department of Immunology
American Association for Cancer Research
Research Area
Improving immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer.
Impact
Despite recent advances, most triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients face limited options beyond chemotherapy, with high relapse rates and worse outcomes compared to other breast cancer types. MICA is a stress-induced protein that can attract immune cells that recognize and eliminate cancer cells, but tumors can also shed MICA to evade immune cells. Counterintuitively, high MICA expression often indicates a poor prognosis, potentially due the stressed tumor environment. Dr. Fuertes’ research aims to target MICA to enhance anti-tumor immune activity, ultimately expanding the therapeutic options for TNBC.
What’s Next
Dr. Fuertes is developing a novel therapeutic strategy targeting MICA for the treatment of TNBC.
She and her team aim to validate both an antibody that binds to MICA specifically (anti-MICA Ab) and an anti-MICA antibody-drug conjugate that carries an anti-cancer drug (anti-MICA ADC). The anti-MICA Ab is designed to amplify anti-tumor immunity by stabilizing MICA and activating immune cells as well as counteracting immune evasion by removing shed MICA that attracts immune cells away from the tumor. The anti-MICA ADC will further broaden therapeutic potential by delivering an anti-cancer drug to tumor cells, including those with low immune infiltration or low MICA expression. Integrating clinical data will potentially enable biomarker discovery, patient stratification strategies, and therapeutic optimization—essential steps toward clinical translation and a more personalized approach to TNBC treatment.
Biography
Mercedes Fuertes, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Immunology and Independent Researcher at CONICET, Argentina. She received her PhD from the University of Buenos Aires and completed her postdoctoral training in tumor immunology at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on understanding the dynamics of cancer-immune system interactions and the interplay between innate and adaptive anti-tumor immune responses, with the goal of developing novel immunotherapeutic strategies to treat cancer.
