🔬 To dig deeper, we turned to single-cell RNA-seq data.

Tumors with high PTBP1 didn’t have fewer immune cells — instead, their T cells were more dysfunctional/exhausted, explaining the poor response to immunotherapy.
(6/7)

🧩 Surprisingly, when we analyzed TNBC tumors, immune infiltration levels were not associated with PTBP1 expression.

This suggests PTBP1 impacts immune function qualitatively (e.g., antigen presentation, T cell state) rather than simply reducing immune cell numbers.
(5/7)

📊 Most importantly, we analyzed metastatic tumors from the #TONIC #ClinicalTrial (@marleenkok.bsky.social)

Patients with high PTBP1 expression ❌ did not respond to immunotherapy and showed shorter progression-free and overall survival.
(4/7).

🧬 Next, we moved to cell culture and created a cell line lacking PTBP1.

Interestingly, when PTBP1 was removed, the cells reactivated HLA expression — proteins essential for immune cells to recognize and attack tumor cells.
(3/7)

🔎 TNBC is the breast cancer subtype with the lowest survival rates, and many patients don’t respond to immunotherapy.

But why do some respond while others don’t?
We set out to identify genes linked to immune evasion in TNBC — and that’s how we found PTBP1.
(2/7)

No es verdad. La prueba más clara es Tom Hiddleston. Objetivamente, físicamente es tu tío del pueblo. Delgaducho y el pelo le empieza en las orejas. Pero luego le ves moverse y... es otra cosa. Es atractivo. Pero tu le ves en una foto sin posar y no piensas "Este debe ligar lo que le da la gana".

I see it more as a Joyce idea. Even though Joyce would not be that stupid.