Cancer evolves through a stepwise process of cellular reprogramming that enables tumor cells to proliferate, spread, and escape immune surveillance. Targeted drugs interfere with cellular processes that drive tumor growth and survival, while immunotherapies can restore immune-mediated clearance of malignant cells. Although these approaches have improved treatment options for patients with liver cancer, their efficacy remains limited, highlighting the need for more effective therapeutic strategies. Our goal is to identify tumor cell vulnerabilities and exploit tumor cell–intrinsic mechanisms to develop rational combination strategies that enhance responses to immunotherapy. To this end, we apply genetic screens as well as proteomic and transcriptomic profiling to systematically identify and characterize targetable pathways. These approaches are complemented by functional validation in cell-based systems and immunocompetent mouse models of liver cancer, allowing us to link tumor cell–intrinsic states to immune responses in a physiological context. Ultimately, our work aims to provide a mechanistic basis for novel combination therapies that improve immunotherapy outcomes in liver cancer.
Novel treatment options for liver cancer
Biosketch
Verena Wagner studied medicine at Heidelberg University and completed her doctoral thesis at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), where she investigated the use of novel small molecules for the treatment of hematologic malignancies. After graduation, she joined the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and GI Oncology in Tübingen.
During her postdoctoral fellowship in the group of Jesús Gil at Imperial College London, she investigated vulnerabilities of RAS-driven premalignant and malignant cells and explored drug combinations that leverage senescence for cancer therapy.
She is now continuing her work as a clinician scientist and group leader at the Department of Gastroenterology and the M3 Research Center in Tübingen. Her current research focuses on tumor cell–intrinsic mechanisms in liver cancer and their therapeutic exploitation to enhance immunotherapy responses.
Team
identification
of new vulnerabilities of tumor cells
new
treatment strategies in combination with existing drugs or immunotherapy
enhance
anti-cancer effects