Start Date
26-10-2022 11:30 AM
End Date
26-10-2022 1:00 PM
Description
Given that there still exist cancers that are unresponsive to immunotherapy, high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation offers an alternative solution to bolstering anti-tumor immunity. Linear energy transfer is energy transferred per unit distance. Alpha particles have higher LET than other forms of radiotherapy and can create clustered DNA lesions. A possible component of these lesions is micronuclei, cytoplasmic DNA that can stimulate downstream immunostimulatory mechanisms. Because alpha particles cannot travel far, we utilized diffusing alpha-emitters radiation therapy (DaRT) to diffuse the alpha particles over a larger tumor volume. This occurs through the decay of the radium-224 seed, which forms radon gas that perfuses the dose of alpha particles over the tumor. Since cancer cells exhibit high levels of programmed death-1 to deceive the immune system into thinking that the cells are healthy, we administered a PD1 inhibitor as a form of immunotherapy. We hypothesized that coupling alpha radiation and immune checkpoint blockade treatment will lead to better tumor control.
Included in
MD Anderson Cancer Center Summer Experience
Given that there still exist cancers that are unresponsive to immunotherapy, high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation offers an alternative solution to bolstering anti-tumor immunity. Linear energy transfer is energy transferred per unit distance. Alpha particles have higher LET than other forms of radiotherapy and can create clustered DNA lesions. A possible component of these lesions is micronuclei, cytoplasmic DNA that can stimulate downstream immunostimulatory mechanisms. Because alpha particles cannot travel far, we utilized diffusing alpha-emitters radiation therapy (DaRT) to diffuse the alpha particles over a larger tumor volume. This occurs through the decay of the radium-224 seed, which forms radon gas that perfuses the dose of alpha particles over the tumor. Since cancer cells exhibit high levels of programmed death-1 to deceive the immune system into thinking that the cells are healthy, we administered a PD1 inhibitor as a form of immunotherapy. We hypothesized that coupling alpha radiation and immune checkpoint blockade treatment will lead to better tumor control.