In the News
Ependymoma is a rare type of central nervous system tumors that arise in the supratentorial region, posterior fossa of the brain, or spinal cord. Extensive molecular analyses of ependymal tumors have revealed distinct molecular profiles despite being histologically similar. The lack of in vivo models that faithfully recapitulate the complex subgroups of ependymoma is a significant challenge for the development of effective treatment. Here, using ST-EPN-ZFTA in immunocompetent mice, we revealed that the immune landscape changes during tumor progression. Moreover, we show that dasatinib treatment reprograms the tumor immune microenvironment in ST-EPN-ZFTA to an immunostimulatory milieu and causes tumor regression. Our findings suggest that dasatinib is an effective therapy for this molecular subgroup of brain tumors.
Read the paper here
The physical microenvironment plays a crucial role in tumor development, progression, metastasis and treatment. Recently, we proposed four physical hallmarks of cancer, with distinct origins and consequences, to characterize abnormalities in the physical tumor microenvironment: (1) elevated compressive–tensile solid stresses, (2) elevated interstitial fluid pressure and the resulting interstitial fluid flow, (3) altered material properties (for example, increased tissue stiffness) and (4) altered physical micro-architecture. As this emerging field of physical oncology is being advanced by tumor biologists, cell and developmental biologists, engineers, physicists and oncologists, there is a critical need for model systems and measurement tools to mechanistically probe these physical hallmarks. Here, after briefly defining these physical hallmarks, we discuss the tools and model systems available for probing each hallmark in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo and in clinical settings. We finally review the unmet needs for mechanistic probing of the physical hallmarks of tumors and discuss the challenges and unanswered questions associated with each hallmark.
Dan G. Duda, DMD, PhD, of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology and Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the corresponding author of a paper published in Cancer Immunology Research, “Combination CXCR4 and PD1 Blockade Enhances Intratumoral Dendritic Cell Activation and Immune Responses Against Hepatocellular Carcinoma.”
https://www.massgeneral.org/news/research-spotlight/improving-liver-cancer-outcomes-through-enhanced-immonotherapy