Patrick LEGEMBRE

CD95 (also known as Fas) is considered as a death receptor and it belongs to the TNF (tumor necrosis factor) receptor family. Its ligand, CD95L is a transmembrane cytokine (m-CD95L), which can be cleaved by metalloproteases and released in the bloodstream as a soluble fragment (s-CD95L). While m-CD95L is found at the surface of immune cells where it orchestrates the elimination of transformed/infected cells and the immune contraction, s-CD95L behaves as a proto-oncogene enhancing the risk of metastatic occurrence in breast cancers. Our main goals are i) to decipher how CD95 switches from implementing cell death to non-apoptotic signaling pathways, ii) to identify the cells whose function is deregulated by the naturally processed ligand in breast cancers and iii) to develop original therapeutics that selectively inhibit the CD95-mediated non-apoptotic and pro-inflammatory signaling pathway.