Deciphering the role of APRIL/TNFSF13 in melanoma-associated TLS formation

Lilit Karapetyan, MD
Career Development Award
Moffitt Cancer Center
Silverstein Family Research Grant Challenge Women in Science Career Development Award and supported by the 3rd Annual GetNakedJax Event
The overall survival of a subset of patients with melanoma drastically improved with a type of treatment called immunotherapy, which activates the body’s immune system to fight cancer more effectively. To better understand which patients are most likely to benefit from such treatments it has become increasingly important to identify biomarkers that may be predictive of clinical outcomes. Our project aims to evaluate biomarkers called tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) to determine their relationship to survival outcomes in patients with melanoma.