The Galluzzi Lab

The current interest of our team is to elucidate the links between cellular pathways of response to stress – including (but not limited to) autophagy, cellular senescence and multiple variants of regulated cell death – and the preservation of organismal homeostasis, with a particular focus on anticancer immunity. More specifically, we are interested in dissecting the complexity of the tumor microenvironment with respect to the mechanisms through which malignant as well as non-malignant components of the tumor exposed to chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy emit danger signals that are involved in the initiation and perpetuation of robust immune responses. The detailed characterization of these molecular and cellular circuitries may identify stress-responsive mechanisms of adaptation in malignant or non-malignant cells as novel targets for the pharmacological manipulation of anticancer immune responses. Ultimately, these findings may translate into novel clinical studies based on combinatorial therapeutic regimens aimed at maximizing immunostimulation within the tumor microenvironment.

Members:

Lorenzo Galluzzi, PhD

Principal Investigator

log3001@med.cornell.edu

Lorenzo Galluzzi (born 1980) is currently Assistant Professor of Cell Biology in Radiation Oncology with the Department of Radiation Oncology of the Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, NY, USA), Honorary Assistant Professor Adjunct with the Department of Dermatology of the Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA), Honorary Associate Professor with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris (Paris, France), and Faculty Member with the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnology of the University of Ferrara (Ferrara, Italy), the Graduate School of Pharmacological Sciences of the University of Padova (Padova, Italy), and the Graduate School of Network Oncology and Precision Medicine of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Rome, Italy).

Prior to joining Weill Cornell Medical College (2017), Lorenzo Galluzzi was a Junior Scientist of the Research Team “Apoptosis, Cancer and Immunity” at the Cordeliers Research Center (Paris, France; 2012-2016). Lorenzo Galluzzi did his post-doctoral training at the Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center (Villejuif, France; 2009-2011), after receiving his PhD from the University Paris Sud (Le Kremlin-Bicetre, France; 2005-2008). He is also Associate Director of the European Academy for Tumor Immunology (EATI), and Founding Member of the European Research Institute for Integrated Cellular Pathology (ERI-ICP).

Lorenzo Galluzzi is best known for major experimental and conceptual contributions to the fields of cell death, autophagy, tumor metabolism and tumor immunology. In particular, he provided profound insights into the links between adaptive stress responses in cancer cells and the activation of a clinically relevant tumor-targeting immune response in the context of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Lorenzo Galluzzi has published more than 480 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals. According to a survey published by Lab Times, he was the 6th and the youngest of the 30 most-cited European cell biologists (for the period 2007–2013), and he has been nominated Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (formerly, Thomson Reuter) in 2016 (Biology & Biochemistry), 2018 (Cross-Fields), 2019 (Immunology and Molecular Biology & Genetics) and 2020 (Immunology and Molecular Biology & Genetics).

Lorenzo Galluzzi currently operates as Editor-in-Chief of four journals: OncoImmunology (which he co-founded in 2011), International Review of Cell and Molecular Biology, Methods in Cell Biology, and Molecular and Cellular Oncology (which he co-founded in 2013). In addition, Lorenzo Galluzzi currently serves as Founding Editor for Microbial Cell and Cell Stress, Associate Editor for Cell Death and Disease and Aging, Section Editor for Cells, and Guest Editor for Methods in Enzymology.

Takahiro Yamakazi, PhD

Post-Doctoral Associate

tay2007@med.cornell.edu

Takahiro Yamazaki obtained his PhD in Biomolecular Science (Molecular Immunology) at Toho University, Japan. In 2009, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Kazunori Aoki at National Cancer Center in Japan and worked on Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD). From 2010, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Laurence Zitvogel at Institute Gustave Roussy, France, and worked on the role of Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD) and gut microbiota in cancer treatment. During this period he published many articles (Sci Transl Med. 2012, Immunity 2013, Science 2014, Nat Med. 2014, Cell Death Differ. 2014, Science 2015, Immunity 2016, Cell Death Differ. 2016, Cancer Res. 2017, Nat Commun. 2019, Cell Res. 2019 and more). Since 2017, he’s in laboratory of Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi and working on "Mitochondrial DNA drives abscopal responses to radiation that are inhibited by autophagy", and his work has been accepted by Nature Immunology (2020).

Aitziber Buqué Martinez, PhD

Post-Doctoral Associate

abm2013@med.cornell.edu

Norma Bloy, PhD

Post-Doctoral Associate

nob4001@med.cornell.edu

Norma received her master’s degree in Health Biology from Paris Saclay. In 2013, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Guido Kroemer at the Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers (Paris, France) and at Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France), the largest center for oncological patients in Europe. She worked on several projects linked to immunosurveillance, culminating with her obtaining her PhD in 2017 with an original work on “Immunogenic stress and death of cancer cells: Contribution of antigenicity vs adjuvanticity to immunosurveillance”. Norma is now a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College (New York) in Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi’s group, where she works on PD-1 resistance, in a breast cancer model.

Giulia Petroni, PhD

Post-Doctoral Associate

gip4003@med.cornell.edu

Giulia obtained her B.Sc (Cellular and Molecular Biology, 2010) and Ph.D (Clinical Science, 2014) from the University of Florence, Italy. She continued her postdoctoral studies in General Pathology at the same University. Her PhD and postdoctoral trainings have always been focused on therapy resistance, first studying immunogenicity of monoclonal antibodies and then investigating strategies aiming to overcome resistance to conventional treatment. She joined the laboratory of Dr. Lorenzo Galluzzi as Visiting Scientist in April 2019, while she had the opportunity to learn innovative methodologies related to the generation and management of immunocompetent HR+ breast cancer models. During these 6 months, she was supported by the “Postdoctoral Fellowship 2019” funded by Fondazione Umberto Veronesi. Giulia is now a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Galluzzi’s group. His current research is focused on investigating resistance to cell cycle inhibitors and anti-tumor immune response following treatment with cell cycle inhibitors and radiation therapy in HR+ breast cancer.

Ai Sato

Research Specialist

ais2010@med.cornell.edu

Ai is from Japan. She learned biochemistry, molecular biology and developmental biology in University. She worked in RIKEN Brain Science Institute for four years doing research in developmental neuroscience, and then at National Cancer Center Research Institute for nine and a half years working with colon and ovarian cancer stem cells. She moved to the US and joined the Department of Radiation Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine in July 2018.

Original Articles 

• Yamazaki, T., Kirchmair, A., Sato, A. et al. Mitochondrial DNA drives abscopal responses to radiation that are inhibited by autophagy. Nat Immunol, 2020. 21(10); p. 1160-1171.
• Buqué, A., Bloy, N., Perez-Lanzón, M. et al. Immunoprophylactic and immunotherapeutic control of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Nat Comm, 2020. 11(1): p. 3819.
• Truxova, I., Kasikova, L., Salek, C. et al. Calreticulin exposure on malignant blasts correlates with improved NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity in AML patients. Haematologica, 2020. 105(7): p. 1868-1878.
• Yamazaki, T., Buqué, A., Ames, T.D. and L. Galluzzi. PT-112 induces immunogenic cell death and synergizes with immune checkpoint blockers in mouse tumor models. Oncoimmunology, 2020. 9(1): p. e1721810.
• Kasikova, L., Hensler, M., Truxova, I. et al.. Calreticulin exposure correlates with robust adaptive antitumor immunity and favorable prognosis in ovarian carcinoma patients. J Immunother Cancer, 2019. 7(1): p. 312.
• Rodriguez-Ruiz, M.E., Buqué, A., Hensler, M. et al. Apoptotic caspases inhibit abscopal responses to radiation and identify a new prognostic biomarker for breast cancer patients. Oncoimmunology, 2019. 8(11): p. e1655964.
• Bravo-San Pedro, J.M., Sica, V., Martins, I. et al. Acyl-CoA-binding protein is a lipogenic factor that triggers food intake and obesity. Cell Metabol, 2019. 30(4): p. 754-767.e7.
• Fucikova, J., Rakova, J., Hensler, M. et al. TIM-3 dictates functional orientation of the immune infiltrate in ovarian cancer. Clin Cancer Res, 2019. 25(15): p. 4820-4831.
• Tatsuno, K., Yamazaki, T., Hanlon, D. et al. Extracorporeal photochemotherapy induces bona fide immunogenic cell death. Cell Death Dis, 2019. 29(10): p. 578.
• Sica, V., Bravo-San Pedro, J.M., Izzo, V. et al. Lethal poisoning of cancer cells by respiratory chain inhibition plus dimethyl a-ketoglutarate. Cell Rep, 2019. 27(3): p. 820-834.e9.
• Pabla, S., Conroy, J.M., Nesline, M.K. et al. Proliferative potential and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in lung cancer patients. J Immunother Cancer, 2019. 7(1): p. 27.
• Conroy, J.M., Pabla, S., Nesline, M.K. et al. Next generation sequencing of PD-L1 for predicting response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. J Immunother Cancer, 2019. 7(1): p. 18.
• Marchi, S., Corricelli, M., Branchini, A. et al. Akt-mediated phosphorylation of MICU1 regulates mitochondrial Ca2+ levels and tumor growth. EMBO J, 2019. 38(2): p. e99435.
• Truxova, I., Kasikova, L., Hensler, M. et al. Mature dendritic cells correlate with favorable immune infiltrate and improved prognosis in ovarian carcinoma patients. J Immunother Cancer, 2018. 6(1): p. 139.
• Morrison, C.D., Pabla, S., Conroy, J.M. et al. Predicting response to checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma beyond PD-L1 and mutational burden. J Immunother Cancer, 2018. 6(1): p. 32.
• Bonora, M., Morganti. M., Morciano, G. et al. Mitochondrial permeability transition involves dissociation of F1FO ATP synthase dimers and C-ring conformation. EMBO Rep, 2017. 18(7):1077-1089.
• Fucikova, J., Truxova, I., Hensler, M. et al. Calreticulin exposure by malignant blasts correlates with robust anticancer immunity and improved clinical outcome in AML patients. Blood, 2016. 128(26): p. 3113-3124.

Review Articles 

• Petroni, G., Buqué, A., Zitvogel, L., Kroemer, G. and L. Galluzzi. Immunomodulation by targeted anticancer agents. Cancer Cell, 2021. IN PRESS.
• Galluzzi, L., Humeau, J., Buqué, A., Zitvogel, L. and G. Kroemer. Immunostimulation by chemotherapy in the era of immune checkpoint blockers. Nat Rev Clin Oncol, 2020. 17(12): p. 725-741.
• Petroni G., Formenti, S.C., Chen-Kiang, S. and L. Galluzzi. Immunomodulation by anticancer cell cycle inhibitors. Nat Rev Immunol, 2020. 20(11): p. 669-679
• Marchi, S., Giorgi, C., Galluzzi, L. and P. Pinton. Ca2+ fluxes and cancer. Mol Cell, 2020. 78(6): p.1055-1069.
• Galluzzi, L., Vitale, I., Warren, S. et al. Consensus guidelines for the definition, detection and interpretation of immunogenic cell death. J Immunother Cancer, 2020. 8(1): p. e000337.
• Rodriguez-Ruiz, M.E., Vitale, I., Harrington, K.J., Melero, I. and L. Galluzzi. Immunological impact of cell death signaling driven by radiation on the tumor microenvironment. Nat Immunol, 2020. 21(2): p. 120-134.
• Vanpouille-Box, C., Hoffmann, J.A. and L. Galluzzi. Pharmacological modulation of nucleic acid sensors – Therapeutic potential and persisting obstacles. Nat Rev Drug Discov, 2019. 18(11): p. 845-867.
• Deutsch, E., Chargary, C., Galluzzi, L. and G. Kroemer. Optimising efficacy and reducing toxicity of anticancer radioimmunotherapy. Lancet Oncol, 2019. 20(8): p. e452-e463.
• Galluzzi, L., and D.R. Green. Autophagy-independent functions of the autophagy machinery. Cell, 2019. 177(7): p. 1682-1699.
• Vitale, I., Manic, G., Coussens, L.M., Kroemer, G. and L. Galluzzi. Macrophages and metabolism in the tumor microenvironment. Cell Metab, 2019. 30(1): p. 36-50.
• Bonora, M., Wieckowski, M.W., Sinclair. D.A. et al. Targeting mitochondria for cardiovascular disorders: therapeutic potential and obstacles. Nat Rev Cardiol, 2019. 16(1): p. 33-55.
• Galluzzi, L., Yamazaki, T. and G. Kroemer. Linking intracellular adaptation to stress with organismal homeostasis. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol, 2018. 19(11): p. 731-745.
• Galluzzi, L., Chan, T., Kroemer, G., Wolchok, J.D. and A. López-Soto. The hallmarks of successful anticancer immunotherapy. Sci Transl Med, 2018. 10(459): p. eaat7807.
• Vanpouille-Box, C., Demaria, S., Formenti, S.C. and L. Galluzzi. Cytosolic DNA sensing in organismal tumor control. Cancer Cell, 2018. 34(3): p. 361-378.
• Galluzzi, L., Vanpouille-Box, C., Bakhoum, S.F. and S. Demaria. SnapShot: CGAS-STING signaling. Cell, 2018. 173(1): p. 276–276.e1.
• Rybstein, M.D., Bravo-San Pedro, J.M., Kroemer G. and L. Galluzzi. The autophagic network and cancer. Nat Cell Biol, 2018. 20(3): p. 243-251.
• Galluzzi, L., Vitale, I., Aaronson, S.A. et al. Molecular mechanisms of cell death: Recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018. Cell Death Differ, 2018. 25(3): p. 486-541.
• Carmona-Gutierrez, D., Bauer, M.A., Zimmermann, A., et al. Guidelines and recommendations on yeast cell death nomenclature. Microb Cell, 2018. 5(1): p. 4-31.
• Bantug, G., Galluzzi, L., Kroemer, G., and C. Hess. The spectrum of T cell metabolism in health and disease. Nat Rev Immunol, 2018. 18(1): p. 19-34.
• López-Soto, A., Gonzalez, S., Smyth, M.J. and L. Galluzzi. Control of metastases by NK cells. Cancer Cell, 2017. 32(2): p. 135-154.
• Galluzzi, L., Baehrecke, E.H., Ballabio, A. et al. Molecular definitions of autophagy and related processes. EMBO J, 2017. 36(13): p. 1811-1836.
• Galluzzi, L., Bravo-San Pedro, J.M., Levine, B., Green, D.R. and G. Kroemer. Pharmacological modulation of autophagy: therapeutic potential and persisting obstacles. Nat Rev Drug Discov, 2017. 16(7): p. 487-511.
• Vitale, I., Manic, G., De Maria, R., Kroemer, G. and L. Galluzzi. DNA damage in stem cells. Mol Cell, 2017. 66(3): p. 306-319.
• Galluzzi, L., Bravo-San Pedro, J.M., Demaria, S., Formenti, S.C. and G. Kroemer. Activating autophagy to potentiate immunogenic chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Nat Rev Clin Oncol, 2017. 14(4): p. 247-258.
• Galluzzi, L., Kepp, O., Chan, F.K. and G. Kroemer. Necroptosis: Mechanisms and relevance to disease. Annu Rev Pathol, 2017. 12: p. 103-130.
• Galluzzi, L., Buqué, A., Kepp, O., Zitvogel, L. and G. Kroemer. Immunogenic cell death in cancer and infectious disease. Nat Rev Immunol, 2017. 17(2): p. 97-111.
• López-Otín, C., Galluzzi, L., Freije, J.M.P., Madeo, F. and G. Kroemer. Metabolic control of longevity. Cell, 2016. 166(4): p. 802-821.
• Galluzzi, L., Bravo-San Pedro, J.M., Blomgren, K. and G. Kroemer. Autophagy in acute brain injury. Nat Rev Neurosci, 2016. 17(8): p. 467-484.
• Galluzzi, L., López-Soto, A., Kumar, S. and G. Kroemer. Caspases connect cell-death signaling to organismal homeostasis. Immunity, 2016. 44(2): p. 221-231.
• For a complete list of peer-reviewed publications from Lorenzo Galluzzi, please click here

FORMER LAB MEMBERS