Project description:While angiogenesis inhibitors have provided significant clinical benefit as cancer therapeutics, the mechanisms of anti-VEGF resistance remain incompletely understood. We uncovered an interleukin-17 mediated paracrine network of signaling between the adaptive and innate immune system associated with resistance to anti-VEGF treatment in multiple tumor models. The expression of tumor-associated fibroblasts and tumor-associated granulocytes (defined as CD11b+Gr1+) and tumor-associated monocytic cells (defined as CD11b+Gr1-) were compared between wildtype and IL-17RC knockout tumor bearing mice.
Project description:While angiogenesis inhibitors have provided significant clinical benefit as cancer therapeutics, the mechanisms of anti-VEGF resistance remain incompletely understood. We uncovered an interleukin-17 mediated paracrine network of signaling between the adaptive and innate immune system associated with resistance to anti-VEGF treatment in multiple tumor models.
Project description:This model is based on:
Reinforcement learning-based control of tumor growth under anti-angiogenic therapy
Authors: Parisa Yazdjerdi, Nader Meskin, Mohammad Al-Naemi, Ala-Eddin Al Moustafa, Levente Kovacs
Abstract:
Background and objectives: In recent decades, cancer has become one of the most fatal and destructive diseases which is threatening humans life. Accordingly, different types of cancer treatment are studied with the main aim to have the best treatment with minimum side effects. Anti-angiogenic is a molecular targeted therapy which can be coupled with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Although this method does not eliminate the whole tumor, but it can keep the tumor size in a given state by preventing the formation of new blood vessels. In this paper, a novel model-free method based on reinforcement learning (RL) framework is used to design a closed-loop control of anti-angiogenic drug dosing administration.
Methods: A Q-learning algorithm is developed for the drug dosing closed-loop control. This controller is designed using two different values of the maximum drug dosage to reduce the tumor volume up to a desired value. The mathematical model of tumor growth under anti-angiogenic inhibitor is used to simulate a real patient.
Results: The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown through in silico simulation and its robustness to patient parameters variation is demonstrated. It is demonstrated that the tumor reaches its minimal volume in 84 days with maximum drug inlet of 30 mg/kg/day. Also, it is shown that the designed controller is robust with respect to ± 20% of tumor growth parameters changes.
Conclusion: The proposed closed-loop reinforcement learning-based controller for cancer treatment using anti-angiogenic inhibitor provides an effective and novel result such that with a clinically valid and safe dosage of drug, the volume reduces up to 1mm3 in a reasonable short period compared to the literature.
Project description:Pericytes and endothelial cells (ECs) are building blocks of blood vessels. While the contributions of ECs to tumor angiogenesis and the tumor microenvironment are well established and multiple drugs that targeting ECs have been developed for clinic use to treat cancers, the underlying mechanisms of pericyte in supporting tumor vessel and in shaping tumor microenvironment remains largely unexplored and no pericyte targeting strategies have been approved yet. This study employs targeted deletion of the NO receptor sGC in pericytes and utilizes single-cell RNA sequencing to elucidate its impact on the tumor microenvironment. The results unveil a disruptive effect on EC-pericyte interactions, subsequently impeding Notch-mediated intercellular crosstalk and prompting extensive transcriptomic reprogramming in both cell types. This vascular alteration further relays to neighboring cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) through paracrine signaling, collectively suppressing tumor growth. Importantly, the inhibition of pericyte sGC has limited influence on quiescent vessels but significantly sensitizes angiogenic vessels to anti-angiogenic treatment. In conclusion, this study underscores the vital role of pericytes in governing tumor vessels and the tumor microenvironment, suggesting that targeting pericyte sGC holds promise for enhancing anti-angiogenic therapy.
Project description:Previously, we have demonstrated that the recombinant adeno-associated virus carrying the kringle domain 1 of hepatocyte growth factor (rAAV-HGFK1) gene is a potential anti-angiogenic approach for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and exerts direct inhibition effects on tumor cells. Here, using genome-wide expression profiling technology, coupled with RT-PCR validation, we investigated the differentially expressed genes and proposed the mechanisms involved in HGFK1 anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor cell signaling networks. Keywords: HGFK1, anti-angiogenic signaling network, anti-tumor cell signaling network
Project description:A significant challenge for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy against glioblastoma (GBM) is its immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), which is densely populated and supported by protumoral glioma-associated microglia and macrophages (GAMs). Targeting CD47, a don't-eat-me signal overexpressed by tumor cells, disrupts the CD47-SIRPalpha axis and induces GAM phagocytic function. However, antibody-mediated CD47 blockade monotherapy is associated with toxicity and low bioavailability in solid tumors. To overcome these limitations, we combined local CAR T cell therapy with paracrine GAM modulation to effectively eliminate GBM. To this end, we engineered a new CAR T cell against epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) that constitutively secretes a signal regulatory protein gamma (SIRPgamma)-related protein (SGRP) with high affinity to CD47. Anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cells eliminated EGFRvIII+ GBM in a dose-dependent manner in vitro and eradicated orthotopically xenografted EGFRvIII-mosaic GBM by locoregional application in vivo. This resulted in significant tumor-free long-term survival, followed by partial tumor control upon tumor re-challenge. Combining anti-CD47 antibodies with anti-EGFRvIII CAR T cells failed to achieve a similar therapeutic effect, underscoring the importance of sustained paracrine GAM modulation. Multidimensional brain immunofluorescence microscopy and in-depth spectral flow cytometry on GBM-xenografted brains showed that anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cells accelerated GBM clearance, increased CD68+ cell trafficking to tumor scar sites and promoted GAM-mediated tumor cell uptake. In a peripheral lymphoma mouse xenograft model, anti-CD19-SGRP CAR T cells had superior efficacy to conventional anti-CD19 CAR T cells. Validation on human GBM explants revealed that anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cells had a similar tumor-killing capacity to anti-EGFRvIII CAR monotherapy but showed a slight improvement in the maintenance of tumor-infiltrated CD14+ cells. Thus, local anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cell therapy combines the potent antitumor effect of engineered T cells with the modulation of the surrounding innate immune TME. This results in the additive elimination of bystander EGFRvIII- tumor cells in a manner that overcomes the main mechanisms of CAR T cell therapy resistance, including tumor innate immune suppression and antigen escape.
Project description:Stromal communication with cancer cells can influence treatment response. We show that stromal and breast cancer (BrCa) cells utilize paracrine and juxtacrine signaling to drive chemotherapy and radiation resistance. Upon heterotypic interaction, exosomes are transferred from stromal to BrCa cells. RNA within exosomes, which are largely non-coding transcripts and transposable elements, stimulates the pattern recognition receptor RIG-I to activate STAT1-dependent anti-viral signaling. In parallel, stromal cells also activate NOTCH3 on BrCa cells. The paracrine anti-viral and juxtacrine NOTCH3 pathways converge as STAT1 facilitates transcriptional responses to NOTCH3 and expands therapy resistant tumor-initiating cells. Primary human and/or mouse BrCa analysis support the role of anti-viral/NOTCH3 pathways in NOTCH signaling and stroma-mediated resistance, which is abrogated by combination therapy with gamma secretase inhibitors. Thus, stromal cells orchestrate an intricate cross-talk with BrCa cells by utilizing exosomes to instigate anti-viral signaling. This expands BrCa subpopulations adept at resisting therapy and re-initiating tumor growth. Breast cancer cells lines and MRC5 fibroblasts were mono-cultured or co-cultured together. Cell types were separated by FACS and gene expression changes were examined using the Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0ST arrays. The effect of tumor-stromal cell interaction on different breast cancer cell types was analyzed using biological replicates. Gene expression changes resulting from knockdown of STAT1 was also investigated.
Project description:Stromal communication with cancer cells can influence treatment response. We show that stromal and breast cancer (BrCa) cells utilize paracrine and juxtacrine signaling to drive chemotherapy and radiation resistance. Upon heterotypic interaction, exosomes are transferred from stromal to BrCa cells. RNA within exosomes, which are largely non-coding transcripts and transposable elements, stimulates the pattern recognition receptor RIG-I to activate STAT1-dependent anti-viral signaling. In parallel, stromal cells also activate NOTCH3 on BrCa cells. The paracrine anti-viral and juxtacrine NOTCH3 pathways converge as STAT1 facilitates transcriptional responses to NOTCH3 and expands therapy resistant tumor-initiating cells. Primary human and/or mouse BrCa analysis support the role of anti-viral/NOTCH3 pathways in NOTCH signaling and stroma-mediated resistance, which is abrogated by combination therapy with gamma secretase inhibitors. Thus, stromal cells orchestrate an intricate cross-talk with BrCa cells by utilizing exosomes to instigate anti-viral signaling. This expands BrCa subpopulations adept at resisting therapy and re-initiating tumor growth. Breast cancer cells lines and MRC5 fibroblasts were mono-cultured or co-cultured together. Cell types were separated by FACS and gene expression changes were examined using the Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0ST arrays. The effect of tumor-stromal cell interaction on different breast cancer cell types was analyzed using biological replicates. Gene expression changes resulting from knockdown of STAT1 was also investigated.
Project description:To determine whether dural fibroblasts (DuF) under IL-1β-mediated wound conditions, release pro-angiogenic factors, and promote angiogenic properties in human endothelial cells (ECs). DuF were stimulated by pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β, and transcriptome sequencing was then used to identify the differentially expressed genes in the DuF with/without IL-1β stimulation (DuFCon/DuFIL1b)
Project description:Abstract:
Accumulating experimental and clinical evidence suggest that the immune response to cancer is not exclusively anti-tumor. Indeed, the pro-tumor roles of the immune system - as suppliers of growth and pro-angiogenic factors or defenses against cytotoxic immune attacks, for example - have been long appreciated, but relatively few theoretical works have considered their effects. Inspired by the recently proposed "immune-mediated" theory of metastasis, we develop a mathematical model for tumor-immune interactions at two anatomically distant sites, which includes both anti- and pro-tumor immune effects, and the experimentally observed tumor-induced phenotypic plasticity of immune cells (tumor "education" of the immune cells). Upon confrontation of our model to experimental data, we use it to evaluate the implications of the immune-mediated theory of metastasis. We find that tumor education of immune cells may explain the relatively poor performance of immunotherapies, and that many metastatic phenomena, including metastatic blow-up, dormancy, and metastasis to sites of injury, can be explained by the immune-mediated theory of metastasis. Our results suggest that further work is warranted to fully elucidate the pro-tumor effects of the immune system in metastatic cancer.