Elucidating the role of the IRG1/ACOD1-itaconate axis in TAMs polarization in glioblastoma

While GBMs are characterised by very little lymphocytic infiltration, myeloid cells (microglia in particular) can represent up to 20 % of the tumour mass. In this project, the role of the immuno-metabolite itaconic acid will be studied by employing an IRG1 knock-out mouse model. Preliminary data of the Michelucci lab have highlighted that loss of IRG1 results in an increased number of lymphocyte infiltration, indicating an anti-tumorigenic phenotype upon loss of IRG1 in myeloid cells. The mechanistic details underpinning this phenotype will be studied.

The project foresees the combination of wet lab and bioinformatics analyses, the latter being a pre-requisite to be developed with the support of our bioinformatics core facility.