Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Microbial Experience Influences Tumor- Infiltrating T Lymphocytes, Hanna Groeber

Masters Theses

Immune cells, including T cells, have been used for anti-cancer therapy with varying degrees of success. One potential reason for immunotherapy failures in clinical trials may be that typical specific pathogen free (SPF) mice do not accurately replicate human microbial experience, which has important influence on shaping the adaptive immune response. Recently, several previous studies have shown that the immune system of SPF mice more closely resembles newborn human immunity, whereas immune systems from mice exposed to diverse pathogens more closely reflect adult human immunity.

To study the impact of microbial experience on the immune response, we have adopted a …

The Oncolytic Potential Of Tanapoxvirus To Treat Retinoblastoma, John D. Christie

Masters Theses

Retinoblastoma is the leading cause of intraocular malignancy in children under 2 years of age. Current treatments, while generally effective in eliminating the tumor, have many negative side effects. Oncolytic virotherapy is the use of either wild type or recombinant viruses, to destroy tumor cells. There are currently several viruses being engineered as potential therapeutics for a wide range of cancers. They offer tumor specific alternative to current therapies with lesser toxicity. This study looked at the oncolytic efficacy of multiple tanapoxviruses (TPV) recombinants in an in vitro retinoblastoma. Here we have tested recombinants of TPV for their ability to …