Marxa Figueiredo

Active Mentor - currently hosting PULSe students for laboratory rotations and recruiting PULSe students into the laboratory; serves on preliminary exam committees

Current Research Interests:

Immunotherapy • bone metastatic tumors • repair of bone in tumor and arthritis models • mesenchymal stem cells Our laboratory develops strategies to leverage the immune system and promote repair of bone while controlling inflammation or tumor cell viability. The overall therapy goals are to (a) treat tumors and repair bone in tumor models and (b) treat and repair cartilage/bone in arthritis models. We have several ongoing projects to achieve these goals, including: 1. Immunotherapies such as C-term targeted cytokine IL-27 to control tumor inflammation (COVID19 related inflammation is a recent interest), for which we use gene delivery as a tool; 2. Targeting of receptors such as the laminin receptor using small molecules discovered in our laboratory, and 3. Understanding the biology of mesenchymal stem cells and how to utilize them as therapies.

Selected Publications:

Salameh, JW, Kumar, S, Rivera-Cruz, C, and Figueiredo, ML. A second generation Nanoluc-IL27 fusion cytokine for targeted gene therapy applications. Special Issue: Novel Expansions and Trends in Gene Diagnostics and Gene Therapy. Bioengineering (Basel). 2022 Feb 16;9(2):77. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering9020077

Mulia, G., Picanço-Castro, V, Stavrou, E., Athanassiadou, A, Figueiredo, ML. Advances in the Development and the Applications of Non-Viral Episomal Vectors for Gene Therapy. Hum Gene Ther. 2021 Oct;32(19-20):1076-1095. doi: 10.1089/hum.2020.310

Marin, A, Decker, RE, Kumar, S, Lamantia, Z, Yokota, H, Emrick, T, and Figueiredo, ML. Enhancing prednisone-based arthritis therapy with targeted IL-27 gene delivery. Bioengineering. 2022 Jun 9;9(6):248. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering9060248

Rivera-Cruz, C, Yoon, A-R, Gimble, J, Yun, CO, and Figueiredo, ML. Immunotherapy by mesenchymal stem cell delivery of oncolytic viruses for treating metastatic tumors. Molecular Therapy Oncolytics, 25, 78-97, 2022. DOI 10.1016/j.omto.2022.03.008

Figueiredo, ML, Figueiredo Neto, M, Salameh, JW, Decker, RE, Letteri, R, Chan-Seng, D, and Emrick, T. Ligand-mediated targeting of cytokine Interleukin-27 enhances its bioactivity in vivo. Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2020.03.022

Picanço Castro, V, Pereira, C, Covas, D, Porto, G, Athanassiadou, A, and Figueiredo, ML. Emerging patent landscape for non-viral vectors used for gene therapy. Nat Biotechnol. 2020 Feb;38(2):151-157. doi: 10.1038/s41587-019-0402-x.

Figueiredo Neto, M, Liu, S, Yokota, H, and Figueiredo, ML. Interleukin-27 gene delivery targeting IL-6Ra-expressing cells as a stress response therapy. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 7;21(3). pii: E1108. doi: 10.3390/ijms21031108.

Salameh, WJ, Zhou, L, Ward, SM, Santa Chalarca, CF, Emrick, TE, and Figueiredo, ML. "Polymer-mediated Gene Therapy: Recent Advances and Merging of Delivery Techniques". Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2020 Mar;12(2):e1598. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1598.

Umbaugh, CS, and Figueiredo, ML. Lysines residing in putative small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) motifs regulate fate and function of 37 KDa Laminin Receptor" Biochimie. 2019 Jan;156:92-99. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2018.10.003. Epub 2018 Oct 10.

Rivera-Cruz, C, Shearer, JJ, Figueiredo Neto, M, and Figueiredo, ML. The Immunomodulatory Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Polarization Within the Tumor Microenvironment Niche. Special Issue: Environmental Stimulus on Stem Cell Behaviour. Stem Cells International. Volume 2017 (2017), Article ID 4015039, https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/4015039

Umbaugh, C, Diaz-Quiñones, A., Figueiredo Neto, M., Shearer, JJ, and Figueiredo, ML. A Dock derived compound against laminin receptor (37 LR) exhibits anti-cancer properties in a prostate cancer cell line model. Oncotarget. 2017 Dec 13;9(5):5958-5978.

Figueiredo, ML. IL-27 expression following TLR activation in bone: Sounding the alarm for repair! Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2017 Jun;101(6):1276-1279. doi: 10.1189/jlb.3CE1016-442RR

Figueiredo Neto, M, Letteri, R., Emrick, T, and Figueiredo, ML. Sonodelivery facilitates sustained luciferase expression from an episomal vector in skeletal muscle. Materials 2015, 8(7), 4608-4617