Project description:This study assess the role of HIFU on genetic change intratumorally post-treatment Immunotherapy promises unprecedented benefits to cancer patients. However, the majority of cancer types, including high-risk neuroblastoma remain immunologically unresponsive. High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a non-invasive technique that can mechanically fractionate tumors, transforming immunologically ‘‘cold’’ tumors into responsive ‘‘hot’’ tumors. We treated tumors with HIFU, and assessed systemic immune response using flow-cytometry, ELISA, and gene sequencing. In addition, we combined this treatment with αCTLA-4 and αPD-L1 to study its effect on the immune response and long-term survival. Combining HIFU with αCTLA-4 and αPD-L1 significantly enhances anti-tumor response, improving survival from 0 to 62.5%. HIFU alone causes upregulation of splenic and lymph node NK cells and circulating IL-2, IFN-Ɣ, and DAMPs, whereas immune regulators like CD4+Foxp3+, IL-10, and VEGF-A are significantly reduced. We also report significant abscopal effect following unilateral treatment of mice with large, established bilateral tumors using HIFU and checkpoint inhibitors compared to tumors treated with HIFU or checkpoint inhibitors alone (61.1% survival, p<0.0001). HIFU can effectively induce immune sensitization in a previously unresponsive murine neuroblastoma model, and promises a novel yet efficacious immuno-adjuvant modality to overcome therapeutic resistance.
Project description:We performed genotyping of Neuroblastoma Primary tumors using Illumina HumanHap 550 - v1,v3,v3duo and 610 Quad genotyping beadchips.
Project description:We performed array CGH in high-risk neuroblastoma tumors in order to compare genome aberrations with expression of small non-coding RNAs.
Project description:The RNA from tumors of four olfactory neuroblastoma patients were studied to understand the molecular pathways perturbed in such tumors. The resulting up and down regulated genes were used to look for novel cellular pathways that are commonly perturbed in plfactory neuroblastoma
Project description:Neuroblastoma is an embryonal tumor arising from the neural crest. It can be mimicked in mice by neural crest-specific overepxression of oncogenes such as MYCN or mutated ALK. Expression profiling of murine neuroblastoma driven by MYCN were compared to those driven by mutated ALK and to mouse normal adrenal tissue.