A metabolic gene survey pinpoints fucosylation as a key pathway underlying the suppressive function of Regulatory T cells in cancer.

Tregs are essential for the prevention of autoimmunity but they have deleterious consequences when recruited to tumor sites where they exert immunosuppressive pressure on anti-tumor immune cells resulting in a diminished anti-tumor immune response and poor patient prognosis. As Foxp3 remains the main Treg marker I will perform a state-of-the-art CRISPR/Cas9 in vitro screen to explore the metabolism of Tregs in a high throughput fashion and identify metabolic regulators of Foxp3 expression able to reverse the immunosuppressive properties of Tregs and lead to an effector like phenotype. 

This clinically relevant project will offer in the near future a better understanding of the metabolic regulation of Foxp3 expression with possible new therapeutic tools to break Treg-mediated suppression and improve cancer immunotherapy. The results and the knowledge that will be obtained from this project can benefit both cancer patients and also patients suffering from autoimmune disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease.