Silvia Pesce

I am Assistant Professor of Histology at the Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Genoa (Italy), where I got my PhD in Clinical and Experimental Immunology under the supervision of Prof. Alessandro Moretta. My scientific activity is focused on the role of NK cells in regulating Innate and Adaptive immune responses. Recently I contributed on the identification of the cellular ligands expressed by tumours that are specifically recognized by the activating NK receptors and on the characterization of the different mechanisms of immune evasion by tumours from immunosurveillance. In this regard, I discovered a new mechanism of immune escape of tumor cells in patients with ovarian carcinoma mediated by a soluble form of B7-H6, a ligand for the NK receptor NKp30. More recently I identified a subset of human NK cells expressing high levels of the inhibitory immune checkpoint PD-1, involved in the immunosuppression of anti-tumor NK cell function, both in healthy donors and ovarian cancer patients where this NK subset is particularly increased. These data have been published in an esteemed journal (IF>10) and received enough citations to place it in the top 1% of the academic field of immunology based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year (2017-2019). Moreover, I demonstrated that PD-1 is expressed by and regulates human group 3 innate lymphoid cells. I also identified a new miRNA signature able to heralds human NK cell subsets at different maturation steps. In this context I identified miRNA capable of regulating KIR expression. I'm now deepening the role of PD-1 inhibitory checkpoint on NK cells in ovarian cancer patients, focusing my attention on different tissue compartment.