Veronica De Rosa

The research activity of Dr. De Rosa concerns the relationship among immune system, metabolism and inflammation in normal conditions and autoimmune diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis. Recently, Dr. De Rosa has demonstrated that the activation of specific metabolic pathways can modulate both the activation of CD4 T cells and the induction of T cell tolerance, thus controlling the inflammatory processes. She identified a novel link between the intracellular metabolism and the generation of regulatory T (Treg) cells, the cellular subset involved in the control of T cell tolerance. This population mainly rely on glucose metabolism, which drives their generation through the induction of distinct splicing forms of FoxP3, the trascription factor lineage-specific of this subset. She is now studing the epigenetic mechanisms controlling the expression of the different FoxP3 splicing variants and how they relate to Treg cell function in vivo, both in healthy and multiple sclerosis subjects.

More recently Dr. De Rosa has developed a novel research area based on the study of the molecular/epigenetic processes regulating the expression of the distinct FoxP3 splicing variants in Treg cells infiltrating human breast cancer, having the final aim of evaluating whether they could correlate with disease prognosis and progression.