Melanoma Group

María S. Soengas Group Leader
T +34 917328000 (Ext 3680)
msoengas@cnio.es

Staff Scientists

Nuria Gago
David Olmeda

Post-Doctoral Fellows

Susana Frago

Graduate Students

Xavier Catena
Marta Contreras
Cristina Tejedo

Technicians

Tonantzin Guadalupe Calvo
Estela Cañón

Melanomas are a prime example of how basic and translational research has been translated into improved prognosis for affected patients. Nevertheless, clinical responses are still incomplete. The long-term goals of our Group are to identify new progression biomarkers and therapeutic agents. Focusing on stress response programmes involving apoptosis, autophagy and endosome mobilisation, we have discovered lineage-specific oncogenes that define the melanoma ‘fingerprint’. Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of the melanoma secretome have enabled us to define how tumour cells remodel the (lymph)angiogenic vasculature and avoid immune recognition. Moreover, we have generated a unique set of animal models for non-invasive imaging of melanoma progression in vivo. These systems have led to the validation of nanoparticle-based treatments that are currently being tested in clinical trials. Our ultimate objective is to improve the management of patients with otherwise refractory metastatic melanomas.

Publications

Karras P, Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Cañon E, Ortiz-Romero PL, Rodriguez-Peralto JL, Soengas MS (2019). p62/SQSTM1 Fuels Melanoma Progression by Opposing mRNA Decay of a Selective Set of Pro-metastatic Factors. Cancer Cell 35, 46-63.
Karras P, Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Cañón E, Tejedo C, Calvo TG, Martínez-Herranz R, Alonso-Curbelo D, Cifdaloz M, Perez-Guijarro E, Gómez-López G, Ximenez-Embun P, Muñoz J, Megias D, Olmeda D, Moscat J, Ortiz-Romero PL, Rodríguez-Peralto JL, Soengas MS. (2019). p62/SQSTM1 Fuels Melanoma Progression by Opposing mRNA Decay of a Selective Set of Pro-metastatic Factors.. Cancer Cell 35, 46-63.
Bagati A, Moparthy S, Fink EE, Bianchi-Smiraglia A, Yun DH, Kolesnikova M, Udartseva OO, Wolff DW, Roll MV, Lipchick BC, Han Z, Kozlova NI, Jowdy P, Berman AE, Box NF, Rodriguez C, Bshara W, Kandel ES, Soengas MS, Paragh G, Nikiforov MA (2019). KLF9-dependent ROS regulate melanoma progression in stage-specific manner. Oncogene (in press).
García-Rodríguez S, Rosal-Vela A, Botta D, Cumba Garcia LM, Zumaquero E, Prados-Maniviesa V, Cerezo-Wallis D, Lo Buono N, Robles-Guirado JÁ, Guerrero S, González-Paredes E, Andrés-León E, Corbí Á, Mack M, Koch-Nolte F, Merino R, Zubiaur M, Lund FE, Sancho J (2018). CD38 promotes pristane-induced chronic inflammation and increases susceptibility to experimental lupus by an apoptosis-driven and TRPM2-dependent mechanism. Sci Rep 8, 3357.
Cifdaloz M, Osterloh L, Graña O, Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Ximénez-Embún P, Muñoz J, Tejedo C, Calvo TG, Karras P, Olmeda D, Miñana B, Gómez-López G, Cañon E, Eyras E, Guo H, Kappes F, Ortiz-Romero PL, Rodríguez-Peralto JL, Megías D, Valcárcel J, Soengas MS. (2017). Systems analysis identifies melanoma-enriched pro-oncogenic networks controlled by the RNA binding protein CELF1.. Nat Commun 8, 2249.
Olmeda D, Cerezo-Wallis D, Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Pennacchi PC, Contreras-Alcalde M, Ibarz N, Cifdaloz M, Catena X, Calvo TG, Cañón E, Alonso-Curbelo D, Suarez J, Osterloh L, Graña O, Mulero F, Megías D, Cañamero M, Martínez-Torrecuadrada JL, Mondal C, Di Martino J, Lora D, Martinez-Corral I, Bravo-Cordero JJ, Muñoz J, Puig S, Ortiz-Romero P, Rodriguez-Peralto JL, Ortega S, Soengas MS (2017). Whole-body imaging of lymphovascular niches identifies pre-metastatic roles of midkine.. Nature 546, 676-680.
Soengas MS, Patton EE. (2017). Location, Location, Location: Spatio-Temporal Cues That Define the Cell of Origin in Melanoma.. Cell Stem Cell 21, 559-561.
Soengas MS, Hernando E (2017). TYRP1 mRNA goes fishing for miRNAs in melanoma.. Nat Cell Biol 19, 1311-1312.
Ndoye A, Budina-Kolomets A, Kugel III C, Webster M, Kaur A, Behera R, Vito Rebecca V, Ling Li L, Patricia Brafford P, Qin Liu Q, Y.N. Vashisht Gopal YNV, Michael Davies M, Gordon Mills G, Xiaowei Xu X, Hong Wu H, Meenhard Herlyn M, Michael Nicastri M, Jeffrey Winkler J, Maria Soengas MS, Ravi Amaravadi R, and Maureen Murphy M and Weeraratna AW (2017). ATG5 mediates a positive feedback loop between Wnt signaling and autophagy in melanoma.. Cancer Res 77, 5873-5885.
Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Ruano Y, García-Martín RM, Lora D, Cifdaloz M, Acquadro F, Ballestin C, Ortiz-Romero PL, Soengas MS, Rodríguez-Peralto JL (2017). DEK oncogene is overexpressed during melanoma progression.. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 30, 194-202.
Pérez-Guijarro E, Karras P, Cifdaloz M, Martínez-Herranz R, Cañón E, Graña O, Horcajada-Reales C, Alonso-Curbelo D, Calvo TG, Gómez-López G, Bellora N, Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Ortiz-Romero PL, Rodríguez-Peralto JL, Maestre L, Roncador G, de Agustín Asensio JC, Goding CR, Eyras E, Megías D, Méndez R, Soengas MS (2016). Lineage-specific roles of the cytoplasmic polyadenylation factor CPEB4 in the regulation of melanoma drivers.. Nat Communications 7, 13418.
Wurth L, Papasaikas P, Olmeda D, Bley N, Calvo GT, Guerrero S, Cerezo-Wallis D, Martinez-Useros J, García-Fernández M, Hüttelmaier S, Soengas MS, Gebauer F. (2016). UNR/CSDE1 Drives a Post-transcriptional Program to Promote Melanoma Invasion and Metastasis.. Cancer Cell 30, 694-707.
Casas C, Codogno P, Pinti M, Batoko H, Morán M, Proikas-Cezanne T, Reggiori F, Sirko A, Soengas MS, Velasco G, Lafont F, Lane J, Faure M, Cossarizza A. (2016). TRANSAUTOPHAGY: European network for multidisciplinary research and translation of autophagy knowledge.. Autophagy 12, 614-617.
Martínez-Iglesias O, Olmeda D, Alonso-Merino E, Gómez-Rey S, González-López AM, Luengo E, Soengas MS, Palacios J, Regadera J, Aranda A (2016). The nuclear corepressor 1 and the thyroid hormone receptor ß suppress breast tumor lymphangiogenesis.. Oncotarget 7, 78971-78984.
Merlino G, Herlyn M, Fisher DE, Bastian BC, Flaherty KT, Davies MA, Wargo JA, Curiel-Lewandrowski C, Weber MJ, Leachman SA, Soengas MS, McMahon M, Harbour JW, Swetter SM, Aplin AE, Atkins MB, Bosenberg MW, Dummer R, Gershenwald JE, Halpern AC, Herlyn D, Karakousis GC, Kirkwood JM, Krauthammer M, Lo RS, Long GV, McArthur G, Ribas A, Schuchter L, Sosman JA, Smalley KS, Steeg P, Thomas NE, Tsao H, Tueting T, Weeraratna A, Xu G, Lomax R, Martin A, Silverstein S, Turnham T, Ronai ZA (2016). The state of melanoma: challenges and opportunities.. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 29, 404-416.
Maes H, Olmeda D, Soengas MS, Agostinis P (2016). Vesicular trafficking mechanisms in endothelial cells as modulators of the tumor vasculature and targets of antiangiogenic therapies.. FEBS J 283, 25-38.
García-Pascual CM, Ferrero H, Juarez I, Martínez J, Villanueva A, Pozuelo-Rubio M, Soengas M, Tormo D, Simón C, Gómez R, Pellicer A (2016). Evaluation of the antiproliferative, proapoptotic, and antiangiogenic effects of a double-stranded RNA mimic complexed with polycations in an experimental mouse model of leiomyoma.. Fertil Steril 105, 529-538.
Cerezo-Wallis D, Soengas M (2016). Understanding Tumor-Antigen Presentation in the New Era of Cancer Immunotherapy.. Curr Pharm Design 22, 6234-6250.
García-Fernández M, Karras P, Checinska A, Cañón E, Calvo GT, Gómez-López G, Cifdaloz M, Colmenar A, Espinosa-Hevia L, Olmeda D, Soengas MS (2016). Metastatic risk and resistance to BRAF inhibitors in melanoma defined by selective allelic loss of ATG5.. Autophagy 12, 1776-1790.
Alonso-Curbelo D, Osterloh L, Cañón E, Calvo TG, Martínez-Herranz R, Karras P, Martínez S, Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Romero PO, Rodríguez-Peralto JL, Pastor J, Soengas MS (2015). RAB7 counteracts PI3K-driven macropinocytosis activated at early stages of melanoma development.. Oncotarget 6, 11848-11862.
Alonso-Curbelo D, Soengas MS (2015). Hyperactivated endolysosomal trafficking in melanoma.. Oncotarget 6, 2583-2584.
Kos L, Patton EE, Soengas MS (2015). Let’s make it happen: for gender equality in science!. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 28, 641-642.
García-Pascual CM, Martínez J, Calvo P, Ferrero H, Villanueva A, Pozuelo-Rubio M, Soengas M, Tormo D, Simón C, Pellicer A, Gómez R (2015). Evaluation of the potential therapeutic effects of a double-stranded RNA mimic complexed with polycations in an experimental mouse model of endometriosis.. Fertil Steril 104, 1310-1318.
Alonso-Curbelo D, Riveiro-Falkenbach E, Perez-Guijarro E, Cifdaloz M, karras P, Osterloh L, Megías D, Cañón E, Calvo TG, Olmeda D, Gómez-Lopez G, Graña O, Sánchez-Arévalo VJ, Pisano DG, Wang H-W, Ortiz-Romero P, Tormo D, Hoeck K, Rodríguez-Peralto JL, Joyce JA, Soengas MS (2014). RAB7 controls melanoma progression by exploiting a lineage-specific wiring of the endolysosomal pathway.. Cancer Cell 26, 61-76.
Aplin A, Bosenberg M, Soengas M, Kos L, Arnheiter H, Kelsh R (2014). Unmet needs in melanoma research.. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res 27, 1003.
Martinez-Useros J, Rodriguez-Remirez M, Borrero-Palacios A, Moreno I, Cebrian A, Gomez Del Pulgar T, Del Puerto-Nevado L, Vega-Bravo R, Puime-Otin A, Perez N, Zazo S, Senin C, Fernandez-Aceñero MJ, Soengas MS, Rojo F, Garcia-Foncillas J (2014). DEK is a potential marker for aggressive phenotype and irinotecan-based therapy response in metastatic colorectal cancer.. Bmc Cancer 14, 965.