Maria Sanchez-Pino PhD

My lab is focused on decoding the biological culprits that contribute to cancer risk in obesity by understanding the relationship between inflammation and dysfunctional metabolism

Obesity is a chronic, relapsing, progressive disease characterized by excess adiposity that increases the risk of developing at least 13 cancer types. Although the specificmechanisms are still unclear, there is evidence of a strong link between obesity-associated chronic inflammation and to different steps involved in tumorigenesis. However, specific inflammatory drivers of cancer development or progression are still unclear, limiting novel therapeutic approaches to improve clinical outcomes inpatients with obesity. This gap of knowledge opens a unique opportunity to pursue my interest in the characterization of obesity-induced inflammatory cells with pro-tumor abilities. The scientific premise of my current studies is that chronic inflammatory myeloid cells, specifically Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and their precursors, are primed by metabolic factors in obesity worsening the risk of cancer. Consequently, weight loss and metabolic improvement may reduce the risk of cancer by influencing pathways on MDSC that reprogram their pro-tumor inflammatory and suppressive abilities. Therefore, I am aimed to:

1.Identify the obesity-associated factors that contribute the most to MDSC expansion, cellular metabolism, and immunosuppressive function.

2.Elucidate the transcriptional regulatory network responsible for activating the immunosuppressive gene expression program of MDSC induced by the obese microenvironment to uncover pharmacological targets to reprogram the function of MDSC.

3.Test the impact of the tumor microenvironment on obesity-induced MDSC.

4.Identify the benefit of inflammatory and metabolic improvement after weight loss on shaping MDSC and cancer risk.

Education:

Medical laboratory scientist, Colombia 2000

               M.Sc., Biomedical Sciences with emphasis on Immunology, UdeA - Colombia 2004

Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences with emphasis onImmunology, UdeA - Colombia 2010

           Post-Doctoral fellow, Immunology of cancerand viral infection, LSUHSC - US 2012

               M.Sc., Clinical and Translational Research, Tulane - US 2023

ORCID     identifier: 0000-0001-5271-9840

MyNCBI     Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1RsSvwCGDob5w/bibliography/public/

Selected Publications

• Maria     Dulfary Sanchez-Pino, et al. Increased inflammatory low-density     neutrophils in severe obesity and effect of bariatric surgery: Results     from case-control and prospective cohort studies. eBioMedicine     2022;77:103910

Christopher Sistrunk, Nora Tolbert, MariaDulfary Sanchez-Pino, Loretta Erhunmwunsee, Nikita Wright, VeronicaJones, Terry Hyslop, Gustavo Miranda-Carboni, Eric C Dietze, Ernest Martinez,Sophia George, Augusto C Ochoa, Robert A Winn, Victoria L Seewaldt. Impact ofFederal, State, and Local Housing Policies on Disparities in CardiovascularDisease in Black/African American Men and Women: From Policy to Pathways toBiology. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022;9:756734

• Maria Dulfary Sanchez-Pino, Linda     Anne Gilmore, Augusto Ochoa, Justin C. Brown. Obesity-associated chronic     inflammation, myeloid immunosuppressive     cells, and cancer risk. Obesity. (2021). doi: 10.1002/oby.23108
• Maria Dulfary Sanchez-Pino, Matthew     Dean, Augusto Ochoa. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC): When good     intentions go awry. Cellular Immunology. (2021): Vol 362. 104302.
• Amir Al-Khami, Liqin Zheng, Luis Del Valle, Fokhrul     Hossain, Dorota Wyczechowska, Jovanny Zabaleta, Maria Sanchez-Pino,     Matthew Dean, Paulo Rodriguez. Exogenous Lipid Uptake Induces Metabolic     and Functional Reprogramming of Tumor-Associated Myeloid-Derived     Suppressor Cells. Oncoimmunology. 30;6(10):e1344804

Keywords/Tags: Obesity, Inflammation, Myeloid cells, Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), Obesity-associated cancer

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