Tumor-Intrinsic Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 Controls Immune Cell Infiltration, Tumor Growth, and Lung Metastasis in a Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Model

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive and highly metastatic type of tumor. TNBC is often enriched in tumor-infiltrating neutrophils (TINs), which support cancer growth in part by counteracting tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Prior studies identified the enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) as a pro-tumor methyltransferase in primary and metastatic TNBCs. We hypothesized that EZH2 inhibition in TNBC cells per se would exert antitumor activity by altering the tumor immune microenvironment. To test this hypothesis, we used CRISPR to generate EZH2 gene knockout (KO) and overexpressing (OE) lines from parent (wild-type-WT) 4T1 cells, an established murine TNBC model, resulting in EZH2 protein KO and OE, respectively. In vitro, EZH2 KO and OE cells showed early, transient changes in replicative capacity and invasiveness, and marked changes in surface marker profile and cytokine/chemokine secretion compared to WT cells. In vivo, EZH2 KO cells showed significantly reduced primary tumor growth and a 10-fold decrease in lung metastasis compared to WT cells, while EZH2 OE cells were unchanged. Compared to WT tumors, TIN:TIL ratios were greatly reduced in EZH2 KO tumors but unchanged in EZH2 OE tumors. Thus, EZH2 is key to 4T1 aggressiveness as its tumor-intrinsic knockout alters their in vitro secretome and in vivo primary tumor growth, TIN/TIL poise, and metastasis.

Hemagglutinin virus-like particles incorporated with membrane-bound cytokine adjuvants provide protection against homologous and heterologous influenza virus challenge in aged mice

BACKGROUND

Current influenza vaccines deliver satisfactory results in young people but are less effective in the elderly. Development of vaccines for an ever-increasing aging population has been an arduous challenge due to immunosenescence that impairs the immune response in the aged, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

RESULTS

To potentially enhance vaccine efficacy in the elderly, we investigated the immunogenicity and cross-protection of influenza hemagglutinin virus-like particles (HA-VLP) incorporated with glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored cytokine-adjuvants (GPI-GM-CSF and GPI-IL-12) via protein transfer in aged mice. Lung viral replication against homologous and heterologous influenza viruses was significantly reduced in aged mice after vaccination with cytokine incorporated VLPs (HA-VLP-Cyt) in comparison to HA-VLP alone. Enhanced IFN-γ⁺CD4⁺ and IFN-γ⁺CD8⁺ T cell responses were also observed in aged mice immunized with HA-VLP-Cyt when compared to HA-VLP alone.

CONCLUSIONS

Cytokine-adjuvanted influenza HA-VLP vaccine induced enhanced protective response against homologous influenza A virus infection in aged mice. Influenza HA-VLP vaccine with GPI-cytokines also induced enhanced T cell responses correlating with better protection against heterologous infection in the absence of neutralizing antibodies. The results suggest that a vaccination strategy using cytokine-adjuvanted influenza HA-VLPs could be used to enhance protection against influenza A virus in the elderly.

The magic of small-molecule drugs during ex vivo expansion in adoptive cell therapy

In the past decades, advances in the use of adoptive cellular therapy to treat cancer have led to unprecedented responses in patients with relapsed/refractory or late-stage malignancies. However, cellular exhaustion and senescence limit the efficacy of FDA-approved T-cell therapies in patients with hematologic malignancies and the widespread application of this approach in treating patients with solid tumors. Investigators are addressing the current obstacles by focusing on the manufacturing process of effector T cells, including engineering approaches and ex vivo expansion strategies to regulate T-cell differentiation. Here we reviewed the current small-molecule strategies to enhance T-cell expansion, persistence, and functionality during ex vivo manufacturing. We further discussed the synergistic benefits of the dual-targeting approaches and proposed novel vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor antagonists (VIPR-ANT) peptides as emerging candidates to enhance cell-based immunotherapy.

Effect on growth performance, carcass traits, and myostatin gene expression in Aseel chicken fed varied levels of dietary protein in isocaloric energy diets

A study was conducted to assess the effect of feeding different crude protein (CP) levels with isocaloric metabolizable energy (ME) diets on growth performance, carcass traits, and myostatin (MSTN) gene expression of Aseel chicken during 0 to 16 weeks of age. A total of two hundred and ten day-old Aseel chickens were randomly allotted to seven dietary treatment groups. Each group had thirty chicks distributed into three replicates of ten chicks in each. Experimental diets were formulated to have varying levels of CP, viz. 18.5, 19.0, 19.5, 20.0, 20.5, 21.0, and 21.5%, with isocaloric energy of 2800 kcal ME/kg diets of mash feed fed to birds in a completely randomized design. Different CP levels had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on the body weight gain (BWG) of Aseel chicken. At the end of 16 weeks of age, the group fed 21% CP gained 223.53 g more than the lowest CP (18.5%)-fed group. The different CP levels did not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced the feed intake of all treatment groups, but numerically highest feed intake was observed in the lowest CP (18.5%)-fed group. However, significant differences in feed efficiency (FE) appeared from the 13th week only with the 21.0% CP-fed group showing the best FE until the 16th week (3.86 to 4.06). The maximum dressing % (70.61) was observed by the 21% CP-fed group. The CP 21% diet down-regulated the MSTN gene expression in breast muscle tissue to 0.07 folds when compared to the diet of CP 20%. The best economical coordinates for maximum performance for Aseel chicken appeared to be CP of 21% and ME of 2800 kcal/kg to achieve the best FE of 3.86 at the earliest age of 13 weeks. In conclusion, 21% CP in an isocaloric diet of 2800 kcal ME/kg, in Aseel chickens, would be optimum to improve the growth performance at maximum in terms of BWG and FE up to 16 weeks of age.

Influenza Virus-like Particle-Based Hybrid Vaccine Containing RBD Induces Immunity against Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 Viruses

Several approaches have produced an effective vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Since millions of people are exposed to influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, it is of great interest to develop a two-in-one vaccine that will be able to protect against infection of both viruses. We have developed a hybrid vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses using influenza virus-like particles (VLP) incorporated by protein transfer with glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored SARS-CoV-2 RBD fused to GM-CSF as an adjuvant. GPI-RBD-GM-CSF fusion protein was expressed in CHO-S cells, purified and incorporated onto influenza VLPs to develop the hybrid vaccine. Our results show that the hybrid vaccine induced a strong antibody response and protected mice from both influenza virus and mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 challenges, with vaccinated mice having significantly lower lung viral titers compared to naive mice. These results suggest that a hybrid vaccine strategy is a promising approach for developing multivalent vaccines to prevent influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Influenza virus-like particle-based hybrid vaccine containing RBD induces immunity against influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses

Several approaches have produced an effective vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, the influence of immunity against other vaccinations on the durability and efficacy of the immune response against SARS-CoV-2 is still unknown in settings where vaccines against other viruses need to be administered simultaneously. This will be an important factor in developing multivalent vaccines against seasonal viruses. We have developed a hybrid vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses using influenza virus-like particles (VLP) incorporated with glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored Spike RBD of SARS-CoV-2 fused to GM-CSF as an adjuvant. GPI-anchored fusion protein of GM-CSF and the SARS-CoV-2 S1 RBD was expressed in CHO-S cells, purified by immunoaffinity chromatography and incorporated onto influenza VLPs by protein transfer to make a hybrid VLP vaccine. The efficacy of the hybrid VLP vaccine was tested against both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A/PR8 viruses in a mouse model. Our results show that the hybrid vaccine induced a strong antibody response and protected the mice from both influenza virus and mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 challenges, with vaccinated mice having less body weight loss and significantly lower lung viral titers compared to control mice. These results suggest that the hybrid vaccine is a promising candidate for preventing influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 infections.

This work was supported by NIH/NIAID (SBIR Contract# 75N93019C00017 Amendment to Pack/Ramachandiran), and Intel Corporation for the Intel COVID-19 Global Technology Response Initiative grant.

Effect of Standard of Care Treatment on Tumor Membrane Vesicle Vaccine for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a poor prognosis primarily due to metastatic potential and resistance to currently available therapies. Recent studies suggest that TNBC may be a viable target for immunotherapy due to the presence of high levels of infiltrating lymphocytes. However, many TNBC patients do not respond due to high intra-tumoral and inter-patient heterogeneity. Utilizing a novel protein transfer method, we generate a personalized vaccine based on tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs) derived from whole tumor tissues modified with glycolipid-anchored forms of the immunostimulatory molecules (GPI-ISMs) B7-1 and IL-12. In prior studies we observed that simultaneous delivery of TMVs along with biological adjuvants enhanced CD8 T cell immunity. Herein, we investigated the impact of standard-of-care (SOC) chemotherapy on the resulting quality of the TMV vaccine. Mice were injected with 4T1 TNBC cells subcutaneously and treated with three rounds of SOC drugs starting at day 15. Chemotherapies affected tumor growth to varying degrees. Mice were euthanized and tumors were harvested for TMV preparation. Results show that depending on the treatment, the yield and particle size of TMVs was impacted. While SOC drugs affected some surface markers on TMVs, expression of CD24 and CD11b was unchanged. Further, there was reduced uptake of TMVs by dendritic cells prepared from cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil treated tumors. GPI-ISMs were equally incorporated by protein transfer onto TMVs despite SOC treatments. In summary, our studies in the 4T1 model show that a TMV vaccine can be successfully prepared after chemotherapy, but the impact on TMV yield and size justifies further investigation.

Supported by R01 CA202763 

Rare survival of high-tension electrocution shock in a crossbred Jersey cattle: a complete profile on critical care monitoring

Background

Accidental electrocution was more common in animals and death was mostly due to shock and cardiac arrest. Survival of animals or humans could be possible if victims receive immediate medical support.

Case description

A 3-year-old crossbred Jersey heifer was presented to the Emergency and Critical Care Medicine Referral Clinic of the Veterinary College and Research Institute, Orathanadu, with a history of accidental electrocution by broken high-tension overhead power transmission line during grazing in the paddy fields. The animal was dull and depressed, dark red, and some areas were charred in appearance on the dorsum and limbs. The animal showed difficulty walking due to the electrocution burn injury and was poorly responding to the surroundings. Clinical examination revealed subnormal temperature, polypnea, pale mucous membranes, ruminal atony, and arrhythmias on auscultation.

Findings/treatment and outcome

On point of care (PoC) hematology testing, leukocytosis, neutrophilia, and microcytosis were observed. PoC electrolyte analysis revealed hypocalcemia (ionized calcium 0.89 mmol/L), mild hypochloremia, and severe hypokalemia (2.81 mmol/L). PoC biochemistry revealed hypoglycemia (41 mg/dl). PoC elevated levels of serum cardiac troponin (0.33 ng/dl) indicated cardiac damage. Aspartate aminotransferase (1794 U/L), CK-MB (699 U/L) and LDH (6.7 U/L) were also elevated. On PoC urinalysis, proteinuria, myoglobinuria, and glucosuria were observed. Evident clinical recovery, wound healing, and improvement in animal activities were observed.

Conclusion

High-voltage electrocution injury is a serious type of accident with the potential risk of multi-organ damage and death. Early diagnosis of electrocution and immediate management enhances the expectancy of complete recovery.

Deep Learning-based Mental Health Monitoring Scheme for College Students Using Convolutional Neural Network

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has recently been promising using deep neural networks. It is indeed even been in clinical trials more and more, with positive outcomes. Deep learning is the process of using algorithms to train a neural network model using huge quantities of data to learn how to execute a given task and then make an accurate classification or prediction. Apart from physical health monitoring, such deep learning models can be used for the mental health evaluation of individuals. This study thus designs a deep learning-based mental health monitoring scheme (DL-MHMS) for college students. This model uses the most efficient convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify the mental health status as positive, negative, and normal using the EEG signals collected from college students. The simulation analysis achieves the highest classification accuracy and F1 scores of 97.54% and 98.35%, less sleeping disorder rate of 21.19%, low depression level of 18.11%, reduced suicide attention level of 28.14%, increasing personality development ratio of 97.52%, enhance self-esteem ratio of 98.42%, compared to existing models.

Metformin reduces PD-L1 on tumor cells and enhances the anti-tumor immune response generated by vaccine immunotherapy

Background

PD-L1 is one of the major immune checkpoints which limits the effectiveness of antitumor immunity. Blockade of PD-L1/PD-1 has been a major improvement in the treatment of certain cancers, however, the response rate to checkpoint blockade remains low suggesting a need for new therapies. Metformin has emerged as a potential new drug for the treatment of cancer due to its effects on PD-L1 expression, T cell responses, and the immunosuppressive environment within tumors. While the benefits of metformin in combination with checkpoint blockade have been reported in animal models, little remains known about its effect on other types of immunotherapy.

Methods

Vaccine immunotherapy and metformin were administered to mice inoculated with tumors to investigate the effect of metformin and TMV vaccine on tumor growth, metastasis, PD-L1 expression, immune cell infiltration, and CD8 T cell phenotype. The effect of metformin on IFN-γ induced PD-L1 expression in tumor cells was assessed by flow cytometry, western blot, and RT-qPCR.

Results

We observed that tumors that respond to metformin and vaccine immunotherapy combination show a reduction in surface PD-L1 expression compared with tumor models that do not respond to metformin. In vitro assays showed that the effect of metformin on tumor cell PD-L1 expression was mediated in part by AMP-activated protein kinase signaling. Vaccination results in increased T cell infiltration in all tumor models, and this was not further enhanced by metformin. However, we observed an increased number of CD8 T cells expressing PD-1, Ki-67, Tim-3, and CD62L as well as increased effector cytokine production after treatment with metformin and tumor membrane vesicle vaccine.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that metformin can synergize with vaccine immunotherapy to augment the antitumor response through tumor-intrinsic mechanisms and also alter the phenotype and function of CD8 T cells within the tumor, which could provide insights for its use in the clinic.

Expression of tdTomato and luciferase in a murine lung cancer alters the growth and immune microenvironment of the tumor

Imaging techniques based on fluorescence and bioluminescence have been important tools in visualizing tumor progression and studying the effect of drugs and immunotherapies on tumor immune microenvironment in animal models of cancer. However, transgenic expression of foreign proteins may induce immune responses in immunocompetent syngeneic tumor transplant models and augment the efficacy of experimental drugs. In this study, we show that the growth rate of Lewis lung carcinoma (LL/2) tumors was reduced after transduction of tdTomato and luciferase (tdTomato/Luc) compared to the parental cell line. tdTomato/Luc expression by LL/2 cells altered the tumor microenvironment by increasing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) while inhibiting tumor-induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Interestingly, tdTomato/Luc expression did not alter the response of LL/2 tumors to anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies. These results suggest that the use of tdTomato/Luc-transduced cancer cells to conduct studies in immune competent mice may lead to cell-extrinsic tdTomato/Luc-induced alterations in tumor growth and tumor immune microenvironment that need to be taken into consideration when evaluating the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs and vaccines in immunocompetent animal models.

Equivalent-input-disturbance estimator-based event-triggered control design for master-slave neural networks

This paper investigates the robust synchronization problem for a class of master-slave neural networks (MSNNs) subject to network-induced delays, unknown time-varying uncertainty, and exogenous disturbances. An equivalent-input-disturbance (EID) estimation technique is applied to compensate for the effects of unknown uncertainty and disturbances in the system output. In addition, to reduce the burden of the communication channel in the addressed MSNNs and improve the utilization of bandwidth an event-triggered control protocol is developed to obtain the synchronization of MSNNs. In particular, event-triggering conditions are verified periodically at every sampling instant in both sensors and actuators to avoid the Zeno behavior in the networks. By designing an appropriate low-pass filter in the EID estimator block, the accuracy of disturbance estimation performance is improved. Moreover, by concatenating the synchronization error, observer, and filter states as a single state vector, an augmented system is formulated. Then the tangible delay-dependent stability condition for that augmented system is established by employing the Lyapunov stability theory and reciprocally convex approach. Based on the feasible solutions of the derived stability conditions, the event-triggering parameters, controller, and observer gains are co-designed. Finally, two toy examples are given to illustrate the established theoretical findings.

Dynamic data processing system for sports training system using internet of things

BACKGROUND

The Internet of Things (IoT) has recently become a prevalent technological culture in the sports training system. Although numerous technologies have grown in the sports training system domain, IoT plays a substantial role in its optimized health data processing framework for athletes during workouts.

OBJECTIVE

In this paper, a Dynamic data processing system (DDPS) has been suggested with IoT assistance to explore the conventional design architecture for sports training tracking.

METHOD

To track and estimate sportspersons physical activity in day-to-day living, a new paradigm has been combined with wearable IoT devices for efficient data processing during physical workouts. Uninterrupted observation and review of different sportspersons condition and operations by DDPS helps to assess the sensed data to analyze the sportspersons health condition. Additionally, Deep Neural Network (DNN) has been presented to extract important sports activity features.

RESULTS

The numerical results show that the suggested DDPS method enhances the accuracy of 94.3%, an efficiency ratio of 98.2, less delay of 24.6%, error range 28.8%, and energy utilization of 31.2% compared to other existing methods.

Humanized mice challenged with TNBC tumor develop graft versus host disease and anemia limiting vaccine immunotherapy studies

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among female cancer patients. Our lab has developed a therapeutic cancer vaccine approach for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). In this study, we investigated whether vaccine developed from a human TNBC cell line could effectively induce antitumor immunity, which control the growth of tumors in humanized mice implanted with the human TNBC cell line. Human CD34+ HSC implanted NSG-SGM3 from JAX labs and NOG-EXL mice from Taconic Biosciences used for the studies. Humanized NSG-SGM3 mice were vaccinated with 100 mg of the vaccine once every 2 weeks (3 doses). Control mice were injected with vehicle (PBS). One week after the last vaccination, mice were challenged with MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells subcutaneously in the hind flank. Body weight and tumor growth were monitored. All the mice in both groups have developed tumors, splenomegaly and metastatic lesions in the liver, lungs and spleen. However, all the mice also developed GvHD and need to be euthanized before completion of the study. We have also observed an allo-response (CD69+ T cells in control mice with MDA-MB-231 tumors) to the HLA-matched tumor cells but the tumors eventually developed into metastatic disease affecting multiple organs (liver, lungs and spleen) suggesting that the allo-response is not effective against the tumor. Since the tumor-bearing mice developed GvHD and becoming anemic even in a specific pathogen-free barrier facility, future studies will need to be tested in humanized mice which do not develop GvHD and live longer for carrying out vaccine immunotherapy studies. Funding: NIH/NCI R01 CA202763 (PS & CP).

Doxorubicin Conjugation to Reovirus Improves Oncolytic Efficacy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women in the United States. The triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype associates with higher rates of relapse, shorter overall survival, and aggressive metastatic disease. Hormone therapy is ineffective against TNBC, leaving patients with limited therapeutic options. Mammalian orthoreovirus (reovirus) preferentially infects and kills transformed cells, and a genetically engineered reassortant reovirus infects and kills TNBC cells more efficiently than prototypical strains. Reovirus oncolytic efficacy is further augmented by combination with topoisomerase inhibitors, including the frontline chemotherapeutic doxorubicin. However, long-term doxorubicin use correlates with toxicity to healthy tissues. Here, we conjugated doxorubicin to reovirus (reo-dox) to control drug delivery and enhance reovirus-mediated oncolysis. Our data indicate that conjugation does not impair viral biology and enhances reovirus oncolytic capacity in TNBC cells. Reo-dox infection promotes innate immune activation, and crosslinked doxorubicin retains DNA-damaging properties within infected cells. Importantly, reovirus and reo-dox significantly reduce primary TNBC tumor burden in vivo, with greater reduction in metastatic burden after reo-dox inoculation. Together, these data demonstrate that crosslinking chemotherapeutic agents to oncolytic viruses facilitates functional drug delivery to cells targeted by the virus, making it a viable approach for combination therapy against TNBC.

Tumor membrane-based vaccine immunotherapy in combination with anti-CTLA-4 antibody confers protection against immune checkpoint resistant murine triple-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) afflicts women at a younger age than other breast cancers and is associated with a worse clinical outcome. This poor clinical outcome is attributed to a lack of defined targets and patient-to-patient heterogeneity in target antigens and immune responses. To address such heterogeneity, we tested the efficacy of a personalized vaccination approach for the treatment of TNBC using the 4T1 murine TNBC model. We isolated tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs) from homogenized 4T1 tumor tissue and incorporated glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored forms of the immunostimulatory B7-1 (CD80) and IL-12 molecules onto these TMVs to make a TMV vaccine. Tumor-bearing mice were then administered with the TMV vaccine either alone or in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors. We show that TMV-based vaccine immunotherapy in combination with anti-CTLA-4 mAb treatment upregulated immunomodulatory cytokines in the plasma, significantly improved survival, and reduced pulmonary metastasis in mice compared to either therapy alone. The depletion of CD8⁺ T cells, but not CD4⁺ T cells, resulted in the loss of efficacy. This suggests that the vaccine acts via tumor-specific CD8⁺ T cell immunity. These results suggest TMV vaccine immunotherapy as a potential enhancer of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

Metformin reduces PD-L1 expression in the tumor and enhances the efficacy of vaccine generated CD8 T cells in a murine model of triple negative breast cancer

Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment of breast cancer, however, response rates to therapy remain far from ideal. We have developed a new platform for personalized vaccine immunotherapy that utilizes tumor tissue to generate tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs). These TMVs can be incorporated with immunostimulatory molecules such as IL-12 and B7-1 and used for immunization. In this study, we investigated the combinatorial effect of TMV-based vaccine immunotherapy, to induce an anti-tumor immune response, with the type 2 diabetes drug metformin, which has been reported to exert anti-tumor effects by promoting CD8 T cell activity in the tumor microenvironment. Our results show that TMV vaccination inhibits primary tumor growth in preclinical tumor models, while the combination with metformin resulted in greater inhibition of primary growth. TMV vaccination reduced the metastatic burden in the lungs while the combination with metformin further abrogated metastatic spread. Interestingly, TMV vaccination alone induced a significant increase in T cell infiltration to the tumor, and combination with metformin caused a decrease in the accumulation of T cells, despite having better control of tumor growth. Further, we show that metformin can reduce PD-L1 expression within the tumor microenvironment and result in more IFN-γ producing CD8 T cells within the tumor, providing a mechanistic insight for the improvement of TMV-based vaccine immunotherapy.

Tumor membrane vesicle-based vaccine immunotherapy inhibits tumor growth and metastasis of squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck in mice

Head and neck cancer is a leading cause of cancer related deaths accounting for approximately 3% of all cancer related mortalities in the US. Currently, there is no cure for the advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) thus development of efficacious therapies is urgently needed. To test whether vaccine-induced immunity inhibits tumor growth, we investigated efficacy of a tumor membrane-based vaccine (TMV) immunotherapy in murine SCCHN models. The MOC1, MOC2 and SCC VII tumors grown subcutaneously in syngeneic mice were harvested to generate TMVs. TMVs were then protein transferred with glycolipid-anchored immunostimulatory molecules GPI-B7.1 and GPI-IL-12 to generate the TMV vaccine. Mice were vaccinated with TMV vaccine after tumor cell challenge (therapeutic) and tumor growth was monitored every 3 days. Survival was then assessed using a Kaplan-Meier survival curve and significance determined using a Log-rank test for comparison analysis. The TMV vaccine inhibited tumor growth and improved the survival of mice challenged with MOC1 or SCC VII tumor cells. Interestingly, combination of anti-PD1 antibody with TMV vaccine decreased MOC1 tumor growth. However, MOC2 (poorly immunogenic tumor) did not respond to anti-PD1 or anti-CTLA-4 antibody therapy but significantly inhibited by TMV vaccine. MOC2 cells metastasize to the lungs in control mice but it is significantly inhibited in mice administered with TMV vaccine. TMV vaccine increased the infiltration of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells into the tumors suggesting that TMV vaccine converts cold tumors into hot tumors. These observations suggest that TMV vaccines can be harnessed to develop an effective immunotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Tumor Membrane Vesicle Vaccine Augments the Efficacy of Anti-PD1 Antibody in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Resistant Squamous Cell Carcinoma Models of Head and Neck Cancer

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) immunotherapy improved the survival of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. However, more than 80% of the patients are still resistant to this therapy. To test whether the efficacy of ICI therapy can be improved by vaccine-induced immunity, we investigated the efficacy of a tumor membrane-based vaccine immunotherapy in murine models of HNSCC. The tumors, grown subcutaneously, are used to prepare tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs). TMVs are then incorporated with glycolipid-anchored immunostimulatory molecules GPI-B7-1 and GPI-IL-12 by protein transfer to generate the TMV vaccine. This TMV vaccine inhibited tumor growth and improved the survival of mice challenged with SCCVII tumor cells. The tumor-free mice survived for several months, remained tumor-free, and were protected following a secondary tumor cell challenge, suggesting that the TMV vaccine induced an anti-tumor immune memory response. However, no synergy with anti-PD1 mAb was observed in this model. In contrast, the TMV vaccine was effective in inhibiting MOC1 and MOC2 murine oral cancer models and synergized with anti-PD1 mAb in extending the survival of tumor-bearing mice. These observations suggest that tumor tissue based TMV vaccines can be harnessed to develop an effective personalized immunotherapy for HNSCC that can enhance the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Abstract B32: Metformin reduces PD-L1 expression in the tumor and enhances the efficacy of vaccine-generated CD8 T cells in a murine model of triple-negative breast cancer

Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment of breast cancer; however, response rates to therapy remain far from ideal. We have developed a new platform for personalized vaccine immunotherapy that utilizes tumor tissue to generate tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs). These TMVs can be incorporated with immunostimulatory molecules such as IL-12 and B7-1 and used for immunization. In this study, we investigated the combinatorial effect of TMV-based vaccine immunotherapy, to induce an antitumor immune response, with the type 2 diabetes drug metformin, which has been reported to exert antitumor effects by promoting CD8 T-cell activity in the tumor microenvironment. Our results show that TMV vaccination inhibits primary tumor growth in preclinical tumor models, while the combination with metformin resulted in greater inhibition of primary growth. TMV vaccination reduced the metastatic burden in the lungs while the combination with metformin further abrogated metastatic spread. Interestingly, TMV vaccination alone induced a significant increase in T-cell infiltration to the tumor, and combination with metformin caused a decrease in the accumulation of T cells, despite having better control of tumor growth. Further, we show that metformin can reduce PD-L1 expression within the tumor microenvironment and result in more IFN-γ-producing CD8 T cells within the tumor, providing a mechanistic insight for the improvement of TMV-based vaccine immunotherapy.

Citation Format: Luis E. Munoz, Ramireddy Bommireddy, Haley L. Huang, Christopher D. Pack, Sampath Ramachandiran, Periasamy Selvaraj. Metformin reduces PD-L1 expression in the tumor and enhances the efficacy of vaccine-generated CD8 T cells in a murine model of triple-negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2019 Nov 17-20; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2020;8(3 Suppl):Abstract nr B32.

Synchronization of complex dynamical networks with random coupling delay and actuator faults

This paper addresses the issue of passivity-based synchronization problem for a family of Markovian jump neutral complex dynamical networks (NCDNs) with coupling delay and actuator faults. Also, by considering the effect of random fluctuation in complex dynamical network systems, the occurrence of coupling delay are taken in terms of a stochastic distribution, which obeys the Bernoulli distribution. To handle the fault effects in actuators of proposed complex network systems, an actuator fault model is considered. The main objective of this paper is to develop a robust state feedback controller such that for all possible actuator failures and random coupling delays, all nodes of the proposed Markovian jump NCDNs is globally asymptotically synchronized to the reference node in mean square sense and guarantee the output strict passivity performance. By developing a suitable Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and utilizing the Wirtinger-based integral inequality, the required a set of sufficient conditions for the synchronization of proposed system is established in form of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, three numerical examples including a 3-dimensional Lorenz chaotic model are provided to demonstrate the correctness and superiority of the proposed control scheme.

Abstract 4097: TMV vaccine inhibits growth of squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck in mice

Introduction: Head and neck cancer is a leading cause of cancer related deaths accounting for approximately 3% of all cancer related mortalities in the US. Currently, there is no cure for the advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) thus development of efficacious therapies is urgently needed. To test whether vaccine-induced immunity inhibits tumor growth, we investigated efficacy of a tumor membrane-based vaccine immunotherapy in a murine SCCHN (SCC VII) model.

Materials and Methods: The SCC VII tumors grown subcutaneously in C3H/HeJ mice were harvested to generate tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs). TMVs were then protein transferred with glycolipid-anchored immunostimulatory molecules mouse GPI-B7.1 and mouse GPI-IL-12 to generate the TMV vaccine. Mice were vaccinated with TMV vaccine either before (prophylactic) or after SCC VII tumor cell challenge (therapeutic) and tumor growth was monitored every 3 days. Survival was then assessed using a Kaplan-Meier survival curve and significance determined using a Log-rank test for comparison analysis.

Results: SCCVII cells express MHC I, CD44, CD47 and respond to IFN-γ in vitro. The therapeutic TMV vaccine inhibited tumor growth and improved the survival of mice challenged with SCCVII tumor cells. Tumor-free mice remained protective from rechallenge with SCCVII cells.

Conclusions: These observations suggest that tumor tissue-based vaccines can be harnessed to develop an effective immunotherapy for SCCHN.

Funding: Supported by Head and Neck SPORE pilot funding from Emory Winship Cancer Institute.

Citation Format: Ramireddy Bommireddy, Luis Munoz, Chrstopher D. Pack, Sampath Ramachandiran, Shaker JC Reddy, Janet Kim, Georgia Chen, Nabil F. Saba, Dong M. Shin, Periasamy Selvaraj. TMV vaccine inhibits growth of squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck in mice [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4097.

Abstract LB-203: Metformin enhances the efficacy of tumor membrane vesicle (TMV)-based vaccine immunotherapy in a murine model of breast

Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancers among women, with over 250,000 new cases per year in the United States. Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment of breast cancer, however response rates to therapy remain far from ideal. In this study, we investigated the combinatorial effect of tumor membrane vesicle (TMV)-based vaccine immunotherapy, to induce an anti-tumor immune response, with the type 2 diabetes drug metformin, which has been reported to exert anti-tumor effects by maintaining CD8 T cell activity in the tumor microenvironment. Our results show that TMV vaccination inhibits primary tumor growth in preclinical tumor models, while combination with metformin resulted in greater inhibition of primary growth. Importantly, TMV vaccination reduced the metastatic burden in the lungs while combination with metformin further abrogated metastatic spread. Interestingly, TMV vaccination alone induced a significant increase in T cell infiltration to the tumor, while combination with metformin caused a decrease in the accumulation of T cells, despite having better outcomes. Further, we show that metformin is capable of reducing PD-L1 expression within the tumor microenvironment in both tumor cells as well as myeloid-derived suppressor cells, providing insight for the improvement of TMV-based immunotherapy.

Citation Format: Luis E. Munoz, Ramireddy Bommireddy, Haley Huang, Janet Kim, Periasamy Selvaraj. Metformin enhances the efficacy of tumor membrane vesicle (TMV)-based vaccine immunotherapy in a murine model of breast [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-203.

Personalized T cell therapy for metastatic colon cancer

e15183

Background: Current immunotherapies fail to benefit patients with colon cancer, largely due to high molecular heterogeneity and low frequencies of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. In this study, we are addressing this limitation via a novel technology to expand patient tumor specific T cells ex-vivo, using patient’s matched tumor and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). This technology utilizes tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs) made from excised tumor tissue, as a source of tumor associated antigens, and further modified to express IL-12 and B7-1 for ex-vivo expansion of tumor specific T cells. Additionally, the T cells are cultured with PI3K delta inhibitor (idelalisib) and vasoactive intestinal peptide antagonist (VIPhyb) to increase yield, polyfunctionality and in-vivo persistence. Methods: Matched tumor and blood were collected from consented colon cancer patients. TMVs were prepared from excised tumors by homogenizing and centrifuging the tumor over a sucrose gradient. TMVs were then made to express glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI) linked IL-12 and B7-1 (decorated TMV) via a proprietary protein transfer technology. PBMCs isolated from matched blood were cultured in media with 10ug/ml decorated TMV with/without VIPhyb(3uM) and idelalisib (100nM) for 14 days. T cells were then phenotyped for percentage of IFN gamma secreting CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and injected into PDX mice bearing matched tumors (2 doses of 1 million and 4 million cells, 20 days apart). Results: 14 days after expansion, T cells expanded with decorated TMVs+VIPhyb+idelalisib (TMVs+drugs) resulted in significantly increased number of IFN gamma secreting CD8+ T cells (25% of T cells), when compared to T cells treated with decorated TMVs without VIPhyb and idelalisib (13% of T cells). Further, when injected to PDX mice bearing matched tumors, and followed for differences in tumor growth, we observed that on day 30 after T cell injection, while the tumor volumes increased 4.5-fold in the untreated group, the tumors in the TMVs+drugs group only increased 2.8-fold. Conclusions: In this study, we have thus developed a novel technology to expand patient tumor specific T cells ex-vivo, for adoptive T cell therapy against metastatic colon cancer.

Immunotherapy with tumor membrane vesicle-based cancer vaccine inhibits metastatic tumor growth in lung cancer model

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths accounting for approximately 30% of all cancer related mortalities affecting both men and women. Currently, there is no cure for the common non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) thus development of efficacious therapies is urgently needed. In this study, we investigate the efficacy of tumor membrane-based vaccine immunotherapy and immune checkpoint blockade antibodies lung cancer models LL/2 and CMT-167 models. LL/2 and CMT-167 tumor tissues were harvested from C57BL/6 mice and processed to generate tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs). TMVs were then modified with immunostimulatory molecules and used for immunization. Tumor growth was monitored every 3 days. Survival was assessed using a Kaplan-Meier survival curve and significance determined using a Log-rank test for comparison analysis. Metastasis of CMT-167 was assessed by clonogenic assay. TMV vaccine alone, or in combination, anti-PD-1 or anti-CTLA-4 antibodies neither decreased the tumor growth nor improved the survival of mice challenged with LL/2 tumor cells. The prophylactic vaccination of TMV vaccine prevents the CMT-167 tumor growth in mice and helps the mice develop immunological memory to the tumor cell challenge. In a therapeutic setting, the TMV vaccine inhibited tumor growth and induced primary tumor regression in 40% of mice and significantly reduced the metastatic tumor burden. Anti-tumor immunity induced by TMV vaccine requires CD4+ and NK cells albeit to a lesser extent but not CD8+ T cells for controlling the tumor growth. These models provide a valuable tool in analyzing the mechanism of interaction of immune cells with tumors that lead to either tumor regression or resistance to immunotherapies.

Improving T cell functionality for adoptive T cell therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer

Adoptive T cell therapy in solid tumors such as colorectal cancers are challenging due the low frequency of tumor infiltrating T cells and high molecular tumor heterogeneity. In this study, we are proposing to address this issue by developing a novel technology to expand patient tumor specific T cells ex-vivo, using patient’s matched tumor and PBMCs. Published data from our group shows T cells isolated from heavily treated lymphoma patients when treated with inhibitors of PI3K delta (idelalisib) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIPhyb) signaling results in decreased levels of senescent T cells and increased persistence in-vivo in NSG mice. Additionally, we have demonstrated that tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs) prepared from human tumor cells decorated with IL-12 and B7-1 (decorated TMVs), stimulate expansion of tumor antigen specific T cells with increased IFN gamma release. This study thus combines both strategies to obtain tumor antigen specific T cells with enhanced anti-tumor activity and in-vivo persistence.

Preliminary data was generated with PBMCs obtained from consented colon cancer patients expanded with decorated TMVs with/without VIPhyb and idelalisib. Results showed that on day 14 of T cell expansion, T cells expanded with decorated TMVs + VIPhyb + idelalisib resulted in significantly increased number of IFN gamma secreting CD8+ T cells (25% of T cells), when compared to T cells treated with decorated TMVs without VIPhyb and idelalisib (13% of T cells). On the other hand, in the absence of decorated TMVs, there were less IFN gamma secreting T cells, both in the CD4 and CD8 compartment. Further experiments are underway to test the persistence and efficacy of the expanded T cells in PDX mice with matched human colon cancer.

Data set on prediction of friction stir welding parameters to achieve maximum strength of AA2014-T6 aluminium alloy joints

Statistical tools such as design of experiments (DoE), analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to develop the empirical relationship, to predict the ultimate tensile strength of the joint at the 95% percent confidence level. Response surface graph and contour plots were constructed using response surface methodology (RSM) concept. From this investigation, it is found that the joint fabricated with a tool rotational speed of 1500 rpm, welding speed of 40 mm/min, tool tilt angle of 1.5° and tool shoulder diameter of 6 mm, exhibited maximum tensile strength of 380 MPa.

Prevalence of haemoprotozoan diseases in cattle of Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu

A study was carried out to determine the prevalence of haemoparasites in cattle in Cauvery delta region over a period of one year. A total of 228 giemsa stained blood smears were screened for the presence of haemoprotozoa, out of which 34 animals were found to be positive. An overall prevalence of haemoparasites in the sampled cattle were 14.9%, among this Anaplasma sp (8.3%), Babesia sp (3.95%), Theileria sp (2.19%) and Trypanosoma sp (0.44%) as single or mixed blood parasitic infections. In this study Anaplasmosis (14%) was highly prevalent during the winter season and Babesiosis (13.73%) was highly prevalent during summer months followed by Anaplasmosis (9.8%) and Theileriosis (7.8%), the lowest prevalence of Trypanosomiasis was observed during the rainy season. The seasonal variation in prevalence of haemoprotozoan disease might be due to influence of climatic factors on density of vector population in that geographical area. Haemogram revealed decreased level of haemoglobulin, packed cell volume and total erythrocyte count. The serum biochemistry revealed elevated level of liver enzyme Asparate transaminase enzyme. All haemoparasitaemic animals were treated with specific drugs and recovered successfully.

Disturbance and uncertainty rejection performance for fractional-order complex dynamical networks

This paper investigates the synchronization issue for a family of time-delayed fractional-order complex dynamical networks (FCDNs) with time delay, unknown bounded uncertainty and disturbance. A novel fractional uncertainty and disturbance estimator (FUDE) based feedback control strategy is proposed to not only synchronize the considered FCDNs but also guaranteeing the precise rejection of unmodelled system uncertainty and external disturbance. Especially, in FUDE-based approach, model uncertainties and external disturbance are integrated as a lumped disturbance and it does not require a completely known system model or a disturbance model. On the other hand, the design algorithm for the proposed control strategy is based on the state-space framework, rather than frequency-based design methodologies in the literature, which helps for predominant comprehension of the inner system behaviour. Also, by the temperance of Lyapunov stability theory and fractional calculus, a set of adequate conditions in the linear matrix inequality framework is obtained, which guarantees the robust synchronization of the closed-loop system. Furthermore, an iterative optimization algorithm is proposed to improve control robustness against the external disturbance and model uncertainties. Finally, two numerical illustrations including financial network model, where the influence of adjustment of macro-economic policies in the entire financial system are given to exhibit the rightness and important features of the acquired theoretical results.

Diabetic ketoacidosis in a buck: a case report

BACKGROUND

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism that causes frequent urination, emaciation, extreme tiredness and dehydration. There is little or no information available on DKA in male goat (buck). The present study was carried out to report a rare case of DKA in a buck.

CASE DESCRIPTION

A 1.5 year old buck was presented with anorexia and cough. On physical examination of buck showed fever, dullness, poor body condition and pale conjunctival mucous membrane.

FINDINGS/TREATMENT AND OUTCOME

The peripheral blood smear revealed the mixed infection of Theileria sp. and Anaplasma sp. The blood picture showed anaemia and leukocytosis. The animal was treated with buparvaquone )2.5 mg/kg( and long acting oxytetracycline (20 mg/kg). Post treatment evaluation was done 7 days after initial treatment. Animal showed mild improvement in feed intake, the body temperature becomes normal, but showed tachycardia with weak pulse. Subsequently, animal showed severe emaciation with frequent urination. Urinalysis revealed glycosuria, ketonuria and acidic urine (pH = 6.0). Serum biochemistry revealed hyperglycemia, hypoinsulinemia, increased level of fructosamine and triglycerides and confirmed spontaneous DKA. It was treated with biphasic isophane insulin (1.0 IU/kg) twice a day, regularly. The blood glucose level becomes normal after insulin therapy. Animal resumed adequate feed intake, improvement in haemoglobulin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), total erythrocyte count (TEC), and weight gain was observed.

CONCLUSION

This case study gains significance, due to its successful recovery after insulin treatment, but it requires lifelong insulin therapy to manage insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) in this goat.

Dietary encapsulated probiotic effect on broiler serum biochemical parameters

AIM

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of encapsulated probiotic bacteria (Lactobacillus lactis and Bifidobacterium bifidum) on broiler serum biochemical parameters.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Encapsulation protects the probiotics and increases their livability on exposure to unfavorable processing and storage temperatures and gastrointestinal pH. Hence, an in vitro study was undertaken to encapsulate the probiotic bacteria L. lactis and B. bifidum with sodium alginate and chitosan and evaluate the encapsulation efficiency. This experiment was conducted with 288-day-old broiler chicken; they were distributed randomly into eight treatments and six replicates in each treatment (six birds in each replicate) and given with standard feed.

RESULTS

Supplementation of the encapsulated bacteria either alone or in combination (T4, T6, and T8) significantly (p<0.05) increased mean total serum protein, albumin, and globulin as compared to the birds that were not supplemented with any probiotic (T1 and T2) or supplemented with non-encapsulated bacteria (T3, T5, and T7). Supplementation of the encapsulated bacteria either alone or in combination (T4, T6, and T8) significantly (p<0.05) lowered mean total serum cholesterol, serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and serum triglycerides, as compared to the birds that were not supplemented with any probiotic (T1 and T2) or supplemented with non-encapsulated bacteria (T3, T5, and T7).

CONCLUSION

It may be concluded that supplementation of the encapsulated probiotic bacteria either alone or in combination significantly increased total serum protein, albumin, and globulin and significantly lowered mean total serum cholesterol, serum LDL cholesterol, and serum triglycerides as compared to the birds that were not supplemented with any probiotic or supplemented with non-encapsulated bacteria.

1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 downregulates cytotoxic effector response in pulmonary tuberculosis

1,25-dihydroxyvitaminD₃ [1,25(OH)₂D₃] modulates both the innate and adaptive immunity in tuberculosis. We explored the effect of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ on cytolytic molecules like perforin, granulysin, and granzyme-B in T-cells and natural killer cells during M. tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 45 healthy controls (HCs) and 45 pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients were cultured with Mtb in the absence or presence of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ for 72 h. The percentage of perforin, granulysin, and granzyme-B positive cells were estimated by flow cytometry. 1,25(OH)₂D₃ significantly decreased the percentage of cytolytic molecules in total, CD4+, CD8+ and CD56+ cells in HCs and PTB patients (p < 0.05). Moreover, 1,25(OH)₂D₃ downregulates IFN-γ levels while upregulate the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Correlation revealed that the total percentage of cytolytic molecules were positively correlated with IFN-γ level, whereas negatively correlated with IL-10 level in both the study subjects (p < 0.05). This results suggests that 1,25(OH)₂D₃ downregulate the expression of cytolytic molecues and act as anti-inflammatory in adaptive immune response, which might help to reduce inflammation and tissue damage during the active stage of the disease.

Tumor membrane vesicle (TMV)-based cancer vaccine induces dendritic cell maturation and downstream T cell activation

Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancers among American women, with over 250,000 new cases expected per year. Breast cancer can be subdivided into different categories depending on the expression of receptors, most commonly into ER+, PR+, HER2+, and TNBC. Clinically, small molecule inhibitors of the hormone receptors and antibodies for HER2 have been developed to target these receptors and inhibit tumor signaling or eliminate these cells via phagocytosis and ADCC. Despite this, tumor cells that develop resistance to therapy remain a significant unmet need as they tend to be more aggressive and metastasize. We developed a novel immunotherapy approach that addresses the high degree of inter-patient and intra-tumor heterogeneity by making tumor membrane vesicle (TMV) vaccines out of individual tumor samples and modifying them with GPI-linked molecules like IL-12 and B7-1 to induce an antitumor immune response. In the present study, we investigated whether GPI-GM-CSF and GPI-IL-12 on TMVs from HER2+ murine breast cancer can target and activate antigen presenting cells. Here, we show that TMVs containing with GPI-GM-CSF and GPI-IL-12 can be phagocytosed by both macrophages and dendritic cells, induce upregulation of MHC-I, MHC-II and CD86, and inflammatory cytokine production in vitro. Further, when the DCs activated with our TMV vaccine were co-cultured with syngeneic T cells, they induced the upregulation of T cell activation markers. In summary, our results indicate that TMVs containing GPI-IL-12 and GPI-GM-CSF can enhance uptake and maturation of APCs and induce a strong T cell response downstream making it a potential therapeutic approach for HER2+ breast cancer.

Efficacy of immunotherapy approaches in metastatic and non-metastatic lung cancer models

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths accounting for approximately 30% of all cancer related mortalities affecting both men and women. Currently, there is no cure for the common non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) thus development of efficacious therapies is urgently needed. In this study, we investigate the efficacy of tumor membrane-based vaccine immunotherapy and immune checkpoint blockade antibodies in an aggressive, non-metastatic, immune checkpoint inhibitor resistant lung cancer model (LL/2) and a highly metastatic lung cancer (CMT-167) model. LL/2 and CMT-167 tumor tissues were harvested from C57BL/6 mice and processed to generate tumor membrane vesicles (TMVs). TMVs were then mixed with adjuvants and used for immunization in conjunction with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Tumor growth was monitored every 3 days. Survival was assessed using a Kaplan-Meier survival curve and significance determined using a Log-rank test for comparison analysis. Metastasis of CMT-167 was assessed by clonogenic assay. TMV alone, or in combination with adjuvants, anti-PD-1 or anti-CTLA-4 antibodies neither decreased the tumor growth nor improved the survival of mice challenged with LL/2 tumor cells. However, anti-PD-1 antibody delayed the tumor growth, improved the survival and reduced pulmonary metastasis in mice challenged with CMT-167 tumor cells. These models provide a valuable tool in analyzing the mechanism of interaction of immune cells with tumors that lead to either tumor regression or resistance to immunotherapies.

Need of Algorithm Selection in Next Generation Optical Networks

The IP-based data networks and optical networks have been managed independently with layered protocol stack approach. Both of them were over-provisioned to manage any traffic anomalies and failures. The next generation optical network is expected to handle the needs of the emerging applications in a cost-effective way while satisfying the required QoT. In such scenario, the intents of the application layer must be accounted in the path computation. There is no single path computation algorithm exists which behave optimally under varying traffic conditions. Hence the need for the intent-driven automated algorithm selection was identified. The authors have phrased this intent specific lightpath provisioning problem as the path computation algorithm selection problem. An algorithm selection methodology was proposed with the study of the least congested path in ONOS based software defined controller environment. This approach is claimed as an amenable candidate for the next generation software-defined optical network.