Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
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goico13.bsky.social
Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
@goico13.bsky.social
550 followers 830 following 11 posts
Researcher investigating the intersections of cell death, immunity, and cancer biology, with a particular focus on the roles of transposable elements and RNA biology in disease processes @meierlabicr.bsky.social
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Reposted by Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
meierlabicr.bsky.social
Fantastic talk by @goico13.bsky.social at today’s Science Bites on targeting the dark epigenome to activate anti-tumour responses. @icr.ac.uk @breastcancernow.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 6:56 PM
goico13.bsky.social
Viral infections can wake up dormant breast cancer cells in the lung, driving metastasis

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Respiratory viral infections awaken metastatic breast cancer cells in lungs - Nature
Mouse models show that respiratory infections from viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 can trigger metastasis of dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs, a finding supported by epidemiological data from two large human cohorts.
www.nature.com
September 26, 2025 at 9:32 AM
goico13.bsky.social
ADAR1 loss in BRCA1/2 drives R-loop buildup and lethal IFN signaling

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Autocrine interferon poisoning mediates ADAR1-dependent synthetic lethality in BRCA1/2-mutant cancers - Nature Communications
The RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 blocks interferon responses triggered by cytosolic RNA sensors, and has been proposed as a potential target in immuno-oncology. Here, the authors report that BRCA1/2 and A...
www.nature.com
September 13, 2025 at 10:01 AM
goico13.bsky.social
Exciting new paper in Cancer Discovery: ecDNA drives spatial tumor evolution

aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
Extrachromosomal DNA–Driven Oncogene Spatial Heterogeneity and Evolution in Glioblastoma
AbstractOncogenes amplified on extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) contribute to treatment resistance and poor survival across cancers. Currently, the spatiotemporal evolution of ecDNA remains poorly underst...
aacrjournals.org
September 8, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
philipcball.bsky.social
Regulation by RNAs might be even more extensive than we thought. Many enzymes and other proteins not previously considered as RNA-binding proteins do seem to fall into this class & might have their activity regulated by RNA.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Rethinking RNA-binding proteins: Riboregulation challenges prevailing views
The advent of system-wide proteomic approaches has largely expanded the number of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). This review discusses how recent discoveries are transforming our understanding of biolog...
www.cell.com
September 5, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
lozanzi.bsky.social
#GlycoPower! @vijayrathinam.bsky.social
@raflynn5.bsky.social @vinnieviruses.bsky.social &co show @nature.com that N-glycosylation of host small-RNAs present at cell surface prevents immune recognition by TLR3 and TLR7 upon apoptotic cells uptake avoiding autoinflammation!
RNA N-glycosylation enables immune evasion and homeostatic efferocytosis - Nature
N-glycans on glycoRNAs prevent innate immune sensing of endogenous small RNAs, and the natural mechanism they use demonstrates how glycoRNAs exist on the cell surface and in the endosomal network with...
www.nature.com
August 6, 2025 at 10:12 PM
goico13.bsky.social
Thrilled to present my research at the 2024-25 Annual ICR Conference! And deeply grateful to receive an Oral Presentation prize! Huge thanks to the whole @meierlabicr.bsky.social, organizers, and brilliant colleagues for the inspiration. Onward! 🚀 #ICR2025 #Research #Science
June 29, 2025 at 11:05 PM
goico13.bsky.social
SP140 lowers IFN-β by switching off RESIST (a newly found mRNA stabilizer) and stalls gamma-herpesvirus. Dual antiviral punch!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
SP140–RESIST pathway regulates interferon mRNA stability and antiviral immunity - Nature
The antiviral protein SP140 negatively regulates Ifnb1 mRNA stability by directly repressing the expression of the immune regulator RESIST.
www.nature.com
June 14, 2025 at 4:41 PM
goico13.bsky.social
Just out in Nature Comms! Palbociclib in combination with virotherapy amplify ER stress and immune activation.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Palbociclib and dsRNA sensor co-operate to enhance anti-cancer effects through ER stress and modulation of immune evasion - Nature Communications
Pattern recognition receptors (PRR) critically modulate innate immunity. Here the authors show in cancer cells that interferon responses and anti-tumor immunity activated by dsRNA-induced PRR signalin...
www.nature.com
May 28, 2025 at 1:30 PM
goico13.bsky.social
Cancer cells transfer mitochondria with mutated mtDNA to tumor-infiltrating T cells, impairing their function and promoting immune escape. Awesome work!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Immune evasion through mitochondrial transfer in the tumour microenvironment - Nature
Mitochondria with mutations in their DNA from cancer cells can be transferred to T cells in the tumour microenvironment, which leads to T cell dysfunction and impaired antitumour immunity.
www.nature.com
January 23, 2025 at 11:36 AM
goico13.bsky.social
Delivery of cytosolic bacterial pathogens elicits anti-tumor responses via actiavtion of TLR pathway.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Cytosolic bacterial pathogens activate TLR pathways in tumors that synergistically enhance STING agonist cancer therapies
Intracellular bacterial pathogens are distinctive tools for fighting cancer, as they can proliferate in tumors and deliver therapeutic payloads to the…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 7, 2025 at 11:00 AM
goico13.bsky.social
Exonization of transposons leads to the formation of new protein-coding sequences, potentially impacting immune regulatory pathways.

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Transposon exonization generates new protein-coding sequences
In a recent issue of Cell, Arribas et al. and Pasquesi et al. explore the phenomenon of transposable element (TE) exonization and its impact on proteomic and immune diversity, highlighting its potential role as a driver of evolutionary innovation.
www.cell.com
January 6, 2025 at 10:50 PM
goico13.bsky.social
Chromosome missegration activates dsRNA-sensing pathway in a MAVS-dependent manner and enhances innate immune signaling!

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
RNA sensing induced by chromosome missegregation augments anti-tumor immunity
Sasaki et al. demonstrate that chromosome missegregation induced by SAC inhibition results in cytoplasmic dsRNA accumulation, primarily generated from non-exonic regions in the MNs. Activation of MAVS-mediated dsRNA sensing cooperates with dsDNA sensing to promote anti-tumor immunity.
www.cell.com
January 1, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
mskcancercenter.bsky.social
A new study in @cellpress.bsky.social Immunity from the lab of Dr. Benjamin Greenbaum provides insights into how #PancreaticCancer cells accommodate active retrotransposons without triggering the innate immune response. #oncsky #medsky
Cancer cells restrict immunogenicity of retrotransposon expression via distinct mechanisms
Overexpression of transposable elements is a common feature of cancer. Sun, You, et al. show that, in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, tumor cells adapt through different mechanisms to mitigate a spe...
www.cell.com
November 27, 2024 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
jem.org
Insights by Erika Valeri and @kajastelab.bsky.social: Two works by Chan et al. (https://buff.ly/3D66PfJ) and Ru et al. (https://buff.ly/49or5Fo) identify defective RNA processing as the root cause of impaired antiviral immunity against #SARSCoV2 in the human brainstem: https://buff.ly/4g74MXy
December 6, 2024 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
mayerbarber.bsky.social
Best #Nikolaus 🎅! Our paper on how the 🫁 microenvironment can shape #innate immunity against #viruses is out @sciimmunology.bsky.social This was a herculean effort brilliantly led by @pauljbaker.bsky.social who singlehandedly established the model in the lab during the pandemic. 🧪 #Immunosky 1/9
Graphical summary of our paper. In mice, prior lower airway exposure to diverse inflammatory stimuli, including chronic bacterial infections such as M. tuberculosis, acute bacterial infections such as pulmonary S. aureus, viral infections such as Influenza A, type-II allergic responses such as the OVA-Alum model, activation of pulmonary TLR9 by CpG or pulmonary TLR1/2 by Pam3CSK4 leads to reduced viral burden upon subsequent infection with SARS-CoV-2 (SCV2). (2) This SCV2 restriction occurs prior to induction of SCV2-specific adaptive immune responses and is mediated through innate immune responses, including the induction of IFN-I, TNFα and IL-1 and sustained changes to the TRM (Tissue resident macrophage) cellular compartment and the pulmonary epithelium. (3) Innate cytokine and TLR signaling to both recruited immune cells and the pulmonary epithelium creates a microenvironment in the lung that limits early replication of SCV2. IFN-I signaling to pulmonary ECs (epithelial cells) increases expression of interferon-stimulated genes, that likely cell-intrinsically limit viral replication. TNF- or IL-1 suppress SCV2 independently of IFN-I signaling. TNF acts exclusively through radio-resistant cell types such as the lung epithelium, whereas IL-1 affords control both direct and indirectly, through either stromal and hematopoietic cell types, to restrict overall early SCV2 burden.
December 6, 2024 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Maria Goicoechea - PhD Student in Cancer Research at ICR, London
peterlewislab.bsky.social
The HuSH complex silences retrotransposable elements. We identify HuSH2, centered on TASOR2, targeting KRAB-ZNFs and interferon genes, balancing retrotransposon silencing and immune regulation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 3, 2024 at 3:20 PM
goico13.bsky.social
Blocking IRE1α enables RNA accumulation, triggering ZBP1-driven cell death and making cold TNBC tumors ICI-sensitive!

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
IRE1α silences dsRNA to prevent taxane-induced pyroptosis in triple-negative breast cancer
Mechanisms dictating the form of chemotherapy-induced cancer cell death are elusive. This study reports that immunologically cold triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) hijacks an ancient ER stress resp...
www.cell.com
November 26, 2024 at 5:50 PM