laser-capture-microdissection-glioma-subregions-for-spatial-molecular

Laser Capture Microdissection of Glioma Subregions for Spatial and Molecular Characterization of Intratumoral Heterogeneity, Oncostreams, and Invasion

Gliomas are primary brain tumors characterized by their invasiveness and heterogeneity. Specific histological patterns such as pseudopalisades, ...

University of Michigan Medical School

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive and highly vascular tumor with median survival below 2 years. Despite advances in surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, survival has improved modestly. To combat glioma vascular proliferation, anti-angiogenic agents targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were introduced. Preclinically these agents were effective, yet they did not improve overall survival in phase III trials. We tested the hypothesis that ganciclovir (GCV)-mediated killing of proliferating endothelial cells expressing herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-TK) would have direct antitumor effects, and whether vessel ablation would affect the antitumor activity of anti-VEGF antibodies and radiotherapy.

Molecular ablation of tumor blood vessels inhibits therapeutic effects of radiation and bevacizumab.

High grade gliomas are aggressive and immunosuppressive brain tumors. Molecular mechanisms that regulate the inhibitory immune tumor microenvironment (TME) and glioma progression remain poorly understood. FYN tyrosine kinase is a downstream target of the oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinases pathway and is overexpressed in human gliomas. FYN's role in vivo in glioma growth remains unknown. We investigated whether FYN regulates glioma initiation, growth and invasion.

FYN tyrosine kinase, a downstream target of receptor tyrosine kinases, modulates anti-glioma immune responses.

Gliomas are the most common malignant brain tumors in the pediatric population. Even though great efforts have been made to understand their distinctive molecular characteristics, there has not been any improvements in the median survival in decades. In children, high-grade glial tumors have a median survival of 9-15 months. It has recently been demonstrated that pediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGG) are biologically and molecularly different from the adult counterparts, which could explain why conventional treatments universally fail. The development of an in vivo pHGG model harboring the specific genetic alterations encountered in pediatric gliomas is imperative in order to study the molecular basis that drives the progression and aggressiveness of these tumors. It would also enable harnessing these results for the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Our lab has implemented a method to induce brain tumors using transposon-mediated integration of plasmid DNA into cells of the subventricular zone of neonatal mouse brain. One of the main advantages of this method is that tumors are induced by altering the genome of the host cells, allowing us to recapitulate the salient features of the human disease. In this chapter we describe a method to isolate two cell populations from tumors generated in situ in mice, i.e., one population enriched in tumor cells and another population enriched in CD45+ cells. We also present methodologies as to how tumor infiltrating immune cells can be phenotypically characterized using flow cytometry.

Isolation and characterization of immune cells from the tumor microenvironment of genetically engineered pediatric high-grade glioma models using the sleeping beauty transposon system.

Article	Year
Molecular ablation of tumor blood vessels inhibits therapeutic effects of radiation and bevacizumab. Neuro-oncology\| PubMed ID: 29660022	2018
FYN tyrosine kinase, a downstream target of receptor tyrosine kinases, modulates anti-glioma immune responses. Neuro-oncology\| PubMed ID: 31950181	2020
Isolation and characterization of immune cells from the tumor microenvironment of genetically engineered pediatric high-grade glioma models using the sleeping beauty transposon system. Methods in enzymology\| PubMed ID: 32000905	2020

Andrea Comba

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