Dr. Efstratios Stratikos Dr. Efstratios Stratikos studied chemistry at the university of Athens and then moved to the US to obtain a PhD in biochemistry from the university of Illinois. Following postdoctoral training at Harvard University on molecular and structural biology, he moved to NCSR Demokritos where he is currently working at the rank of research director at the laboratory of protein chemistry. His lab focuses on the study of protein macromolecules and their role in human disease. A major project in his lab has been the study of the human adaptive immune system and in particular the pathway of intracellular antigen processing and presentation.
Although cancer immunotherapy has shown some highly encouraging results during the last few years, variable clinical responses between patients is a common problem. Accumulating evidence suggests that the successful outcome of cancer immunotherapy approaches such as check-point inhibitor therapy depends on the presentation of cancer-specific neoantigens by cancer cells. We will discuss current approaches towards modulating the cellular immunopeptidome in order to enhance neoantigenic peptide presentation and concomitant anti-cancer cytotoxic responses.