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Harnessing the Potential of Dendritic Cell-Derived Exosomes as Tools for Immunotherapy in Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecologic cancer in the United States. Part of what makes ovarian cancer so deadly is its ability to steadily grow in the peritoneum undetected until it reaches advanced stages. Therapies used to treat ovarian cancer include debulking surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy, but even after undergoing this treatment, there is a 70% remission rate. Current studies show that using dendritic cells for T cell activation can be a useful approach to prime our immune system against tumor cells in efforts to increase survival rate and decrease relapses. Although immunotherapy is a promising cancer treatment method, it fails to have an impact on patients with advanced ovarian cancer due to the immunosuppressive and heterogeneous micro-environment and impaired lymphatic drainage created by cancer cells within the peritoneal cavity. We are interested in boosting the anti-tumor immunity by employing exosomes derived from dendritic cells (DC)-based vaccines (Dex) for their capacity of overcoming the transport barriers, bypassing the immunosuppressive environment, prompting T cell infiltration in target organs, and activating them. To address this, we have specifically activated DCs and evaluate the potential of Dex to induce an anti-tumor immune response in vitro. Once adequate activation was achieved, in vivo studies using a metastatic ovarian cancer model available at Corradetti Lab (HMRI) have been used to determine biodistribution of the Dex using various injection routes. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/197150
Master of Science Texas A&M University 2022 https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/197150