Alexandra Burke
Research Mentor: Agustina Diener
Mentor Department: Biomedical Engineering, Engineering
Author(s): Alexandra Burke, Agustina Diener, Lonnie Shea
Session: Session 4 (1:00 PM – 1:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 9
Abstract
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a very aggressive subtype of breast cancer and represents about 15 to 20% of breast cancer cases. It is difficult to treat with targeted therapies due to the lack of estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors. TNBC primarily affects younger patients with the average age of diagnosis being 54. With core treatment options being chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, the 5 year survival rate remains below 20% for metastatic stages. T-cell mediated immunotherapy has shown some success however it remains limited given its inability to overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The Shea Lab has developed cargo-free nanoparticles that significantly reduce metastasis in a TNBC murine model. These nanoparticles are uptaken by circulating monocytes and induce trafficking to the lungs and differentiation into dendritic cells that activate T cells in the metastatic site, leading to the overall reduction of the metastatic burden. Current research aims to identify the mechanism by which this is occurring using human derived monocytes treated with nanoparticles and functionalized them by conjugating small molecules that further skew differentiation to dendritic cells, leading to higher efficacy at combating metastasis.
