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Focused Ultrasound for the Generation of Cancer Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapies, which seek to arm the patient&rsquo;s own immune system for personalized therapy, are a promising option for effective elimination of tumors. Focused ultrasound (FUS) is one propitious method for generating anti-tumor immunotherapy, advantageous in its capacity to deliver non-ionizing, non-invasive, tumor-localized treatment; this involves the transdermal deposition of sonic energy at a focal point in the tumor, which induces acute inflammation capable of activating an anti-tumor immune response. Here, we characterize, <em>in vivo</em>, the early (48 hours) adaptive anti-tumor immune responses induced by FUS treatment of tumors. Compared to untreated tumors, tumors treated with mechanical FUS (mFUS) demonstrated increased NF-&kappa;B activation in local and distant tumors. Additionally, a &ldquo;responder&rdquo; subset of mFUS-treated mice was identified and mFUS-treated tumors exhibited an increased percent of CD4+ T cells and an increased CD4+/CD8+ T cell ratio, as compared to untreated tumors. Immunohistochemical analysis of CD4+ T cells revealed a higher presence of immunostimulatory phenotypes in mFUS-treated tumors compared to untreated tumors. Taken together, these results suggested a FUS-induced shift towards anti-tumor immune activity.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-11212016-145818
Date23 November 2016
CreatorsDockery, Mary Diana
ContributorsTodd D Giorgio, Charles F Caskey
PublisherVANDERBILT
Source SetsVanderbilt University Theses
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-11212016-145818/
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