Research
The lab studies myeloid suppression, checkpoint inhibition, metastatic immune niches, novel therapeutics, and immune differences across patient populations.
Focus area 01
MDSCs & checkpoint inhibition
MDSCs play an important role in response to checkpoint inhibition in breast cancer. Our lab contributed to work on how entinostat alters MDSC function with anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA4 (2021, 2018). Ongoing work examines STAT3 and NFκB signaling and site-specific MDSC function in lung vs primary tumors.
Related papers
Gonzalez, E, Kreger, J, Liu, Y, Wu, X, Barbetta, A, Baugh, AG et al.. Immune Circuit Rewiring by HDAC Inhibition Enables Response to Dual Checkpoint Blockade in Metastatic Breast Cancer. Cancer Res. 2026; :. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-26-1086. PubMed PMID:42578817 .
Baugh, AG, Liu, Y, Gonzalez, E, Al-Zubeidy, B, Iyer, M, Lee, AH et al.. A class act: HDAC1- Malat1 regulates MDSC apoptosis and cell cycling to decrease suppression of T cells. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.03.23.713743. PubMed PMID:41929180 PubMed Central PMC13041902.
bioRxivIyer, M, Das, D, Baugh, AG, Shah, P, Nakamura, B, Sedighi, S et al.. Targeting MDSC-HTR2B to Improve Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Breast to Brain Metastasis. bioRxiv. 2024; :. doi: 10.1101/2024.06.20.599939. PubMed PMID:38979224 PubMed Central PMC11230248.
bioRxiv
Focus area 02
Immune microenvironment by metastatic site
Response to checkpoint inhibition may correlate with site of disease — for example, liver metastases vs other sites. We compare immunosuppressive cell types in liver, brain, and lung in patients and mouse models.
Related papers
Al-Zubeidy, B, Gonzalez, E, Baugh, A, Dela Cruz, M, Park, C, Jacobo, M et al.. “Molecular divergence shapes lung- and liver-preferential metastasis in HER2-positive breast cancer”. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2026; :. doi: 10.1038/s41523-026-01016-w.
Hsu, R, Al-Zubeidy, B, Flores, D, Nazarian, A, Baugh, A, Gonzalez, E et al.. Evaluation of markers of immunity in different metastatic immune microenvironments suggests more suppression within breast to liver metastases in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2024;206 (2):245-259. doi: 10.1007/s10549-024-07295-w. PubMed PMID:38643348 PubMed Central PMC11182800.
Kreger, J, Roussos Torres, ET, MacLean, AL. Myeloid-Derived Suppressor-Cell Dynamics Control Outcomes in the Metastatic Niche. Cancer Immunol Res. 2023;11 (5):614-628. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-22-0617. PubMed PMID:36848523 PubMed Central PMC10155038.
Focus area 03
Novel therapeutics
Single-agent checkpoint inhibition is often insufficient in breast cancer. We investigate agents that modulate MDSCs, tumor-associated macrophages, and dendritic cells identified through scRNA-seq of successfully treated murine tumors.
Related papers
Zavras, PD, Lara-Martinez, HR, Nie, Q, Li, M, He, Z, Kattoula, JY et al.. A meta-analysis of single agent and dual immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic triple negative breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2026; :. doi: 10.1038/s41523-026-01042-8.
Soni, S, Battaglin, F, Castanon, S, Yang, Y, Smbatyan, G, Torres Gonzalez, L et al.. Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase modulates immune response to checkpoint inhibition in mismatch repair deficient/microsatellite instability-high colorectal cancer. J Immunother Cancer. 2026;14 (8):e015191. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2026-015191. PubMed PMID:42608132 PubMed Central PMC13504844.
Jayachandran, P, Elliott, A, Soni, S, Battaglin, F, Mittal, P, Algaze, S et al.. Pan-RAS inhibitors and polo-like kinase 1: promising targets in colorectal cancer. Oncogene. 2025;44 (30):2565-2573. doi: 10.1038/s41388-025-03484-z. PubMed PMID:40615690 PubMed Central PMC12277178.
Focus area 04
Racial disparities in immunity
We work to better understand differences in immune response that may contribute to outcomes in African American and Hispanic patients, in partnership with our clinical research teams.
Related papers
Falcone, M, Salhia, B, Hughes Halbert, C, Roussos Torres, ET, Stewart, D, Stern, MC et al.. Impact of Structural Racism and Social Determinants of Health on Disparities in Breast Cancer Mortality. Cancer Res. 2024;84 (23):3924-3935. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-24-1359. PubMed PMID:39356624 PubMed Central PMC11611670.