Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
T Cell Immunity In Pancreatic Cancer Is Undermined By Dendritic Cell Dysfunction, Samarth Hegde
T Cell Immunity In Pancreatic Cancer Is Undermined By Dendritic Cell Dysfunction, Samarth Hegde
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Pancreatic cancer carries a dismal prognosis, and desperately needs viable therapeutic interventions beyond chemo-radiation. T cell-dependent immunotherapies have shown great promise in several tumor types, but have not been effective for the vast majority of pancreatic cancer patients. This is, in part, due to our limited understanding of how antigenicity of pancreatic lesions is recognized, and how adaptive immunity is overcome in this disease. We sought to study tumor-immune interactions and identify mechanisms for this immune-failure using several spontaneous and unperturbed mouse models of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We found that early pancreatic lesions fail to elicit tumor-limiting CD4+ TH1 and CD8+ …
Investigating Biological Mechanisms Of Radiation Resistance In Advanced Stage Cervical Cancer, Fiona Ruiz
Investigating Biological Mechanisms Of Radiation Resistance In Advanced Stage Cervical Cancer, Fiona Ruiz
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The current standard of care treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer is curative intent pelvic radiation with concurrently administered platinum chemotherapy (CRT). This treatment strategy is effective for many patients, but 33-50% of patients treated with CRT develop disease recurrence. Metastatic and recurrent cervical cancer is an incurable condition, and many of the currently available treatments are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Identifying these patients upfront is a challenge that clinicians face when developing treatment strategies. Previous studies used to catalog the genomic and transcriptomic landscape of cervical cancer lacked high quality corresponding clinical follow up data for patients, …
Exploring Infant Leukemia Through Exome Sequencing And An In Vitro Model Of Hematopoietic Development, Mark Cannon Valentine
Exploring Infant Leukemia Through Exome Sequencing And An In Vitro Model Of Hematopoietic Development, Mark Cannon Valentine
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Cancer is a heterogeneous disease with myriad causes and outcomes. Many of the cancers that occur in adult populations have become increasingly well characterized with the advent of affordable high-throughput sequencing. These studies have revealed that cancer is largely a disease of somatic mutation in the adult population. In strong contrast to this, childhood cancers have an exceedingly low rate of somatic mutation. At the extreme end of this spectrum is Infant Leukemia (IL). Sequencing of IL has revealed that these tumors frequently have one or fewer somatic SNP. In the absence of a somatic explanation for IL, many other …
The Role Of Tumor Stromal Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 (Ddr2) In Breast Cancer Metastasis., Samantha Van Hove Bayer
The Role Of Tumor Stromal Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 (Ddr2) In Breast Cancer Metastasis., Samantha Van Hove Bayer
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Characteristics of breast tumor stroma, including altered collagen architecture and increased stiffness, are known to contribute to tumor invasion and metastasis. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which these changes occur are not fully understood. To address this question, we used a mouse genetic model to delete Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 (DDR2) from mouse tumor stromal cells and interrogated breast cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to determine the molecular events downstream of DDR2 action that may lead to changes in the tumor extracellular matrix (ECM). Our work revealed that the action of DDR2 in breast stromal cells is required for …