Otto, Christoph (2023). Elucidating the effect of anti-VEGF-A and anti-ANG-2 in combination with immunecheckpoint inhibition targeted treatment in small cell lung cancer. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.
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Abstract
Among the various lung cancer subtypes, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for about 15% of diagnoses. This subtype is characterized by an extraordinarily rapid progression and a particularly poor prognosis. SCLC is treated with platinum-based chemotherapy which can be extended by immunotherapy in the form of Atezolizumab, a PD-L1 blocking antibody, since 2018. A major challenge in the treatment of SCLC is its ability to evade the tumor-specific immune response. The general aim of immunotherapy is to prevent this mechanism so that the immune system can effectively fight the tumor again. However, especially in the treatment of SCLC, immunotherapeutic effects may be limited, among other factors, by an insufficient immune cell infiltration of the tumor. This condition is in turn caused by the dysfunctional vascular architecture of the tumor, which is based on high levels of the pro-angiogenic factors such as the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and Angiopoietin-2 (ANG-2). In order to counteract the tumor-promoting effects, we extended the immunotherapy with an anti-angiogenic therapy in our study. In my thesis it could be demonstrated that the combination of PD-1, ANG-2 and VEGFR blockade significantly increased the survival of SCLC-bearing mice. Thereby, the blockade of ANG-2 and VEGFR could support the anti-PD-1 therapy in a synergistic way. At the same time, however, increased metastasis in the liver was observed as a result of therapy with VEGFR blockade alone. Also in vitro it has been shown that blocking the VEGF receptor induces a more invasive phenotype. Tumor cells of mice showing liver metastases were characterized by increased expression of the ANG-2 receptor CD29 (integrin-β1), both in tumor cells from the primary lung tumor and in those isolated from the liver metastasis. Based on these results we suggest that VEGF receptor inhibition may induce a more invasive tumor phenotype via upregulation of integrin CD29. In order to interrupt this signaling cascade, the CD29 ligand ANG-2 was blocked by an antibody, which led to a significant reduction of liver metastasis in vivo and finally lead to a significantly prolonged survival of mice suffering from SCLC.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD thesis) | ||||||||
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-718639 | ||||||||
Date: | 2023 | ||||||||
Language: | English | ||||||||
Faculty: | Faculty of Medicine | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Medicine > Innere Medizin > Klinik I für Innere Medizin - Hämatologie und Onkologie | ||||||||
Subjects: | Medical sciences Medicine | ||||||||
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Date of oral exam: | 31 October 2023 | ||||||||
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Refereed: | Yes | ||||||||
URI: | http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/71863 |
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