Valentina Cecchinato

About

Dr. Cecchinato graduated in Medical Biotechnology and obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine at the University of Milan (Milan, Italy). She has been working on HIV-infection pathogenesis since 2006, when she joined the group of Dr. Genoveffa Franchini at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA). There, she contributed to several publications, which revealed how immune activation drives viral replication and described the preferential loss of Th17 cells in the gut mucosa of SIV-infected rhesus macaques. In 2008, she joined the group of Prof. Mariagrazia Uguccioni at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, Bellinzona, CH), which is dedicated to the study of the activity of chemokines in homeostasis and disease. She demonstrated, in collaboration with the Swiss HIV Cohort Study, that persistent immune activation in ART-treated patients impairs lymphocyte responses to chemotactic stimuli, thus preventing their trafficking from the bloodstream into peripheral organs. The study allowed the identification of mechanisms responsible for the poor CD4+ T cell repopulation of the gut, which is observed in HIV-1-infected individuals receiving clinically effective antiretroviral therapy. More recently, she discovered, for the first time, the existence of specific patterns of autoantibodies targeting chemokines in COVID-19 convalescents that are associated with milder disease, reduced risk of hospitalization and predictive of the lack of protracted symptoms (long COVID). Since March 2023, she is Research Associate at the IRB, and focuses her research on the mechanisms governing inflammation and its dysregulation in autoimmune (Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis) and infectious diseases (HIV, COVID). Over the past two decades she has gained extensive expertise in chemokine biology and in the modulation of their activity by synergy-inducing molecules.

Work

Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB)
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Research Associate

Switzerland

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Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB)
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Senior Researcher

Switzerland

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Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB)
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Postdoc

Switzerland

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National Institutes of Health
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Postdoc

US

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Education

Università degli Studi di Milano
Italy

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PhD in Molecular Medicine

Università degli Studi di Milano
Italy

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Master Degree cum laude in Medical Biotechnology

Publications

Antibodies against chemokines, method for identifying said antibodies and uses thereof

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patent

HTLV-II Vector and Methods of Use

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patent

A potent nonapeptide inhibitor for the CXCL12/HMGB1 heterocomplex: A computational and experimental approach

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Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

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journal-article

Tumor cells express and maintain HMGB1 in the reduced isoform to enhance CXCR4-mediated migration.

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Frontiers in immunology

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journal-article

Patients with ankylosing spondylitis present a distinct CD8 T cell subset with osteogenic and cytotoxic potential

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RMD Open

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journal-article

The chemokine landscape: one system multiple shades.

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Frontiers in immunology

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Autoantibodies against chemokines post-SARS-CoV-2 infection correlate with disease course

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Nature Immunology

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Systematic Development of Peptide Inhibitors Targeting the CXCL12/HMGB1 Interaction

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Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

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β-Arrestin1 and β-Arrestin2 Are Required to Support the Activity of the CXCL12/HMGB1 Heterocomplex on CXCR4

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Frontiers in Immunology

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Oxidation State Dependent Conformational Changes of HMGB1 Regulate the Formation of the CXCL12/HMGB1 Heterocomplex

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Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

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Redox-Mediated Mechanisms Fuel Monocyte Responses to CXCL12/HMGB1 in Active Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Frontiers in Immunology

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Insight on the regulation of chemokine activities

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Journal of Leukocyte Biology

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Chemokine Heterocomplexes and Cancer: A Novel Chapter to Be Written in Tumor Immunity

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Frontiers in Immunology

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Lidocaine inhibits cytoskeletal remodelling and human breast cancer cell migration

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British Journal of Anaesthesia

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Impairment of CCR6+ and CXCR3+ Th Cell Migration in HIV-1 Infection Is Rescued by Modulating Actin Polymerization

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The Journal of Immunology

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Molecular Signatures of Immunity and Immunogenicity in Infection and Vaccination

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Frontiers in Immunology

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Epithelial chemokine CXCL14 synergizes with CXCL12 <i>via</i> allosteric modulation of CXCR4

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The FASEB Journal

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Chemokine interaction with synergy-inducing molecules: fine tuning modulation of cell trafficking

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Journal of Leukocyte Biology

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Potential of PEGylated Toll-Like Receptor 7 Ligands for Controlling Inflammation and Functional Changes in Mouse Models of Asthma and Silicosis

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Frontiers in Immunology

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PI3K/AKT signaling inhibits NOTCH1 lysosome-mediated degradation

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Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer

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Innate immune cells express IL-17A/F in acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis and generalized pustular psoriasis

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Archives of Dermatological Research

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Smallpox Vaccine Safety Is Dependent on T Cells and Not B Cells

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The Journal of Infectious Diseases

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Suppression of HTLV-1 replication by Tax-mediated rerouting of the p13 viral protein to nuclear speckles

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Blood

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Vaccine induced antibodies to the first variable loop of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp120, mediate antibody-dependent virus inhibition in macaques

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Vaccine

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Th17 cells in pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus infection of macaques

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Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS

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Requirement of the human T-cell leukemia virus p12 and p30 products for infectivity of human dendritic cells and macaques but not rabbits

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Blood

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Preexisting Infection with Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 2 neither Exacerbates nor Attenuates Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVmac251 Infection in Macaques

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Journal of Virology

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HAART reduces death ligand but not death receptors in lymphoid tissue of HIV-infected patients and simian immunodeficiency virus-infected macaques

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AIDS

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In vivo genetic mutations define predominant functions of the human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus p12I protein

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Blood

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Hexamethylene bisacetamide inhibits malignant phenotype in T-ALL cell lines

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Leukemia Research

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Immune Activation Driven by CTLA-4 Blockade Augments Viral Replication at Mucosal Sites in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

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The Journal of Immunology

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CD4+ T-cell loss and delayed expression of modulators of immune responses at mucosal sites of vaccinated macaques following SIVmac251 infection

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Mucosal Immunology

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Altered balance between Th17 and Th1 cells at mucosal sites predicts AIDS progression in simian immunodeficiency virus-infected macaques

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Mucosal Immunology

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SIV-specific CD8+ T cells express high levels of PD1 and cytokines but have impaired proliferative capacity in acute and chronic SIVmac251 infection

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Blood

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Regulatory T-Cell Markers, Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase, and Virus Levels in Spleen and Gut during Progressive Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

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Journal of Virology

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Resveratrol-induced apoptosis in human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia MOLT-4 cells

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Biochemical Pharmacology

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Do regulatory T-cells play a role in AIDS pathogenesis?

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AIDS reviews

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A wide role for NOTCH1 signaling in acute leukemia

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Cancer Letters

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