#IDIBELLseminars: Targeting cytokine signalling to block cancer-promoting inflammation and tumour progression

Chronic inflammation in the tumour microenvironment (TME) is highly associated with tumour progression and is nowadays accepted as a canonical hallmark of cancer. The major regulators of inflammation are cytokines, which are small-secreted molecules involved in cell-to-cell communication. Most cell types – including innate and adaptive immune cells as well as stromal and cancer cells – can secrete cytokines and respond to them.
The main research line of my group is focused on the study of the regulation of tumour-promoting inflammation by cytokines, to design new therapeutic strategies, mainly for breast cancer.
Our laboratory identified the cytokine OSM as central node for multicellular interactions between immune, stromal cells and the epithelial cancer cell compartment.
During this talk, I will present these results and other projects from the laboratory including the involvement of cytokine signalling in hypoxia, integrin signalling, ECM remodelling, metabolism and metastasis.

Hosted by Dr. Ruth Rodriguez Barrueco – Breast cancer group

Dr. María Caffarel is an Ikerbasque Researcher at Biogipuzkoa in San Sebastián, where she leads the Breast Cancer group. Her work focuses on understanding how tumours interact with their microenvironment through cytokine signalling to promote cancer progression and metastasis.  The final aim of her team is to design new therapeutic strategies and find new biomarkers based on cytokine targeting.

She earned her PhD at the Complutense University of Madrid, where she studied the anti tumour effect cannabinoids in breast cancer. She then spent over five years at the University of Cambridge, working as a Postdoctoral researcher, where she explored new molecular mechanisms driving breast and cervical cancer progression. In 2015, she joined Biogipuzkoa with an Ikerbasque Fellowship and has led her group since 2020. She serves on the EACR Early Career Researchers Council, chairs the Biodonostia Equality Committee, and is active in public outreach, including talks for breast cancer patients. In 2024, she received the EmakumeEkinn Award for outstanding women researchers.