Kleiton Borges, PhD.

I am a cancer biologist and molecular geneticist investigating how epigenetic, genetic, and signaling mechanisms regulate tumor progression, metastasis, and immune evasion. My research integrates genetically engineered mouse models, human organoids, and multi-omics approaches to uncover how epigenetic deregulation shapes tumor–immune interactions and responses to immunotherapy.

Focusing on the adrenal cortex as a model system, my research seeks to elucidate how genetic, signaling, and transcriptional programs drive adrenal-specific growth and differentiation, and how dysregulated developmental and epigenetic pathways contribute to adrenocortical diseases, particularly cancer.

Activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling together with loss of p53 drives the development of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) in mice (Borges KS, 2020). These tumors are poorly infiltrated by immune cells and resistant to immunotherapies; however, it remains unclear how the genetic and epigenetic landscape of ACC contributes to this immune exclusion and therapy resistance.