Dr. Valentina Ferrari, a researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona, has been awarded the annual CHF 100,000 prize by Fond’Action contre le cancer, which supports young researchers in cancer research.
Originally from California and 34 years old, Dr. Ferrari has developed a promising research career in immunotherapy. After working at an American startup specializing in immunology, she completed her PhD at Humanitas University in Milan, with studies published in Cancer Cell on the role of the microbiota in immunotherapy response.
Since 2023, Dr. Ferrari has been part of Prof. Federica Sallusto’s group at IRB, where she is developing a new approach to immunotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease.
The project
Triple-negative breast cancer is difficult to treat because many cancer cells evade recognition by the immune system, becoming invisible to T cells and resistant to existing immunotherapies. Dr. Ferrari’s project focuses on an alternative immune recognition pathway mediated by the HLA-E molecule, which cancer cells often retain even when standard immune responses fail.
HLA-E is well-known for its role in viral and bacterial infections but is poorly understood in cancer. In some tumors, higher HLA-E levels are linked to better outcomes, suggesting that T cells capable of recognizing it could help fight cancer. Since HLA-E is highly conserved among humans, this approach could form the basis of immunotherapies applicable to most patients. The project will investigate whether T cells can recognize HLA-E on cancer cells and whether this pathway can be exploited to develop new immunotherapies.
The Fond’Action contre le cancer prize supports young researchers under 40 and promotes cancer research in Switzerland. 100% of donations collected by the organization go directly to research, while administrative costs are covered by private sponsors.
