Immunotherapy has proven to be an effective approach in a growing number of cancers. Despite durable clinical responses achieved with antibodies targeting immune checkpoint molecules, many patients do not respond.
The common denominator for immunotherapies that have successfully been introduced in the clinic is their potential to induce or enhance infiltration of cytotoxic T-cells into the tumour. However, in clinical research the molecules, cells and processes involved in effective responses during immunotherapy remain largely obscure. Therefore, in vivo imaging technologies that interrogate T-cell responses in patients represent a powerful tool to boost further development of immunotherapy.
This review comprises a comprehensive analysis of the in vivo imaging technologies that allow the characterisation of T-cell responses induced by anti-cancer immunotherapy, with emphasis on technologies that are clinically available or have high translational potential. Throughout we discuss their respective strengths and weaknesses, providing arguments for selecting the optimal imaging options for future research and patient management.
Background: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) induces tumor cell death by oxidative stress and hypoxia but also survival signaling through activation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1). Since perihilar cholangiocarcinomas are relatively recalcitrant to PDT, the aims were to (1) determine the expression levels of HIF-1-associated proteins in human perihilar cholangiocarcinomas, (2) investigate the role of HIF-1 in PDT-treated human perihilar cholangiocarcinoma cells, and (3) determine whether HIF-1 inhibition reduces survival signaling and enhances PDT efficacy.Results: Increased expression of VEGF, CD105, CD31/Ki-67, and GLUT-1 was confirmed in human perihilar cholangiocarcinomas. PDT with liposome-delivered zinc phthalocyanine caused HIF-1α stabilization in SK-ChA-1 cells and increased transcription of HIF-1α downstream genes. Acriflavine was taken up by SK-ChA-1 cells and translocated to the nucleus under hypoxic conditions. Importantly, pretreatment of SK-ChA-1 cells with acriflavine enhanced PDT efficacy via inhibition of HIF-1 and topoisomerases I and II.Methods: The expression of VEGF, CD105, CD31/Ki-67, and GLUT-1 was determined by immunohistochemistry in human perihilar cholangiocarcinomas. In addition, the response of human perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (SK-ChA-1) cells to PDT with liposome-delivered zinc phthalocyanine was investigated under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Acriflavine, a HIF-1α/HIF-1β dimerization inhibitor and a potential dual topoisomerase I/II inhibitor, was evaluated for its adjuvant effect on PDT efficacy.Conclusions: HIF-1, which is activated in human hilar cholangiocarcinomas, contributes to tumor cell survival following PDT in vitro. Combining PDT with acriflavine pretreatment improves PDT efficacy in cultured cells and therefore warrants further preclinical validation for therapy-recalcitrant perihilar cholangiocarcinomas.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.