Cristina Bottino

Birthday: October 23, 1958 Birthplace: Genova, Italy 1985: M.D. degree (110/110 cum laude), School of Medicine, University of Genova, Italy 1986-88: Research Fellow, Laboratory of Human Immunology, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne, Switzerland 1989-2001: Staff Member, Laboratory of Immunology, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genova, Italy 2002-2006: Head, Molecular Immunology Unit, Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Immunology, IRCCS Istituto G. Gaslini, Genova, Italy 2006-today: Full Professor, Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, University of Genova, Italy 2006-today: Head of the Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Immunology, IRCCS Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genova, Italy Major Scientific Achievements The research activity of Cristina Bottino is focused on the analysis of the molecular mechanisms regulating the immune-mediated recognition of tumors and virus-infected cells in humans. Since 1990 a significant object of her research has been the study of the function of Natural Killer cells (NK) in physiological and pathological conditions: i) Discovery and molecular characterization of the HLA-class I-specific inhibitory receptors (KIR, CD94/NKG2A) and their activating counterparts; ii) identification of the (non-MHC specific) activating NK receptors and co-receptors (NKp46, NKp30, NKp44, 2B4, NKp80 and NTB-A. iii) Identification of PVR and Nectin-2, ligands of DNAM-1 activating receptor and demonstration that of NTB-A displays homophilic recognition; v) Characterization of the NK cell function of in patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PID) including XLP-1, LAD1, and FHL; iv) analysis of the molecular interactions involved in NK/DC and NK/macrophage crosstalk in physiological conditions and in the tumor microenvironment; v) demonstration that NK cells are able to kill tumor cells with stem cell properties (CSC) as well as the tumor-associated endothelium. Since 2003 she has focused her research on high-risk Neuroblastoma (NB) characterizing the receptor/ligand interactions involved in the NK cell-mediated recognition of NB and identifying different tumor escape mechanisms. In particular, she identified B7-H3 as an immune checkpoint ligand protecting NB from NK-mediated recognition and characterizes additional tumor escape mechanisms; these include the downregulation of PVR expression, the release of TGF-β1, and the expression/upregulation of PD-L1. The research activity of C. Bottino is documented by over 180 scientific publications in high-rank International Journals (H-index 72, Citations 21.571) (SCOPUS). Patents C. Bottino is a co-inventor in 4 international patents related to the targeting of B7-H3 through mAbs (EP Patent No.1773884 and 2412728) or CAR-T (submitted in December 2022) Honors/Awards 2004: Gerolamo Gaslini Prizes for Excellence in Research 2005: Gerolamo Gaslini Prizes for Excellence in Research 2006: she has been included among the highly cited researchers (subject category; Immunology) (Institute for Scientific Information, ISI, Philadelphia)