The current study reports that KetoCal® (KC; 4:1 fat:protein/carbohydrates), fed ad libitum, alters hypoxia, angiogenic, and inflammatory pathways in a mouse model of glioma. Tumors from animals maintained on KC showed reduced expression of the hypoxia marker carbonic anhydrase 9 (CA IX), a reduction in hypoxia inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) and decreased activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Animals maintained on KC also showed a reduction in expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and decreased microvasculature in their tumors. Further, peritumoral edema was significantly reduced in animals fed the KC and protein analysis showed significantly altered expression of the tight junction protein zona occludens-1 (ZO-1) and the water channeling protein aquaporin-4 (AQP4), both of which have been implicated in malignant processes in glioma, including the formation of peritumoral edema in patients. Taken together the data suggests that KC alters multiple processes involved in malignant progression of gliomas. A greater understanding of the effects of the ketogenic diet as an adjuvant therapy will allow for a more rational approach to its clinical use.
onself discrimination. Project 2 develops a bioinformatic and experimental methodology for the identification of CTL-epitopes from low frequency T-cells against tumor antigens and chronic viruses. This methodology is employed in Project 3 to identify novel immunogenic CTL-epitopes from human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated head and neck cancer patients. In Project 3, I further study the mechanisms of HPV-specific T-cell dysfunction, and I demonstrate that combination inhibition of Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO-1) and programmed cell death protein (PD-1) can be a potential immunotherapy against HPV+ head and neck cancers. Lastly, in Project 4, I develop a single-cell assay for high-throughput identification of antigens targeted by CTLs from whole pathogenome libraries. Thus, this dissertation contributes to fundamental T-cell immunobiology by identifying rules of T-cell immunogenicity and dysfunction, as well as to translational immunology by identifying novel CTL-epitopes, and therapeutic targets for T-cell immunotherapy.
Stress is a necessary and functional part of human physiology. From responding to life-threatening situations to getting people out of bed in the morning, stress serves a major purpose in human survival. However, when consistent and high levels of stress are experienced, it can pose a threat to human health. One of the major mediators of physiological stress is a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is a well-defined substance and its function in normal physiology is well understood. Scientific research indicates that consistent and high levels of this hormone may be an aid in cancer’s ability to evade the human immune response. Despite this, there is not much known about its relationship with cancer. I used immunofluorescence to determine cell-to-cell variability of vimentin expression and DNA content for cells that were exposed to cortisol at consistent and frequent doses overtime and those not exposed to cortisol to determine if cortisol altered the variability of vimentin expression and DNA content. I observed no change in the variability in vimentin expression across both cell conditions. I did observe variability in DNA content across both cell conditions, with more variability in the population affected by cortisol. These results suggest that there might be a relationship between the stress induced by cortisol, taking place at the genomic level but may have no impact on specific protein expression. Potential implications of the research conducted are looks to preventative medicine in the context of stress experienced by members of marginalized groups as a way of preventing cancer development.