The successful immunotherapy of cancer will depend upon understanding the complex relationships between immune cells and their tumor targets. Neutrophils are key participants in antibody-dependent host resistance to cancer whereas T cells are crucial in antibody-independent anti-tumor mechanisms. However, the nature of transmembrane signaling in response to antigens and the chemical communication between effectors and targets remain poorly understood. This NCI program has established the technique of high speed microscopy, which is unique to this laboratory; by using very brief shutter speeds, chemical signals within cells do not have enough time to move, which thereby retains a great deal of spatiotemporal information. Strikingly, these studies have revealed the routes chemical signals follow within and among cells, thus providing a completely new way of studying signal transduction. We will now exploit this new tool to study the interactions among immune and tumor cells in unprecedented detail. We will determine how chemical information, such as calcium and oxidant waves, travel among neutrophils and antibody-opsonized targets, including multi-cellular tumor spheroids. In particular, we will address how rapid signals travel among two or more cells and how these events lead to tumor cell apoptosis using biophysical, biochemical and computational tools. Preliminary studies have revealed at least four calcium waves associated with cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated tumor cell killing. These signals will be systematically dissected using biochemical, biophysical, and genetic tools. In particular, we will explore the dynamic mechanism of signal processing by T cells. For example, we will explore how different peptide antigens bound to MHC class I molecules elicit different signals and functions in CTLs. The mechanism of CTL-induced tumor cell death will be studied, including the potential role of perforin in aberrant calcium signaling in tumor cells. By using a confluence of new imaging, computational, and immune cell tools, our studies will reveal and characterize mechanisms of leukocyte-mediated tumor cell destruction at a novel level of cellular complexity. These new insights are likely to lead to advances in immunotherapy of cancer.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA074120-10
Application #
7408045
Study Section
Tumor Microenvironment Study Section (TME)
Program Officer
Howcroft, Thomas K
Project Start
1998-07-17
Project End
2010-05-31
Budget Start
2008-06-01
Budget End
2010-05-31
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$270,285
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Department
Ophthalmology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
073133571
City
Ann Arbor
State
MI
Country
United States
Zip Code
48109
Sitrin, Robert G; Sassanella, Timothy M; Petty, Howard R (2011) An obligate role for membrane-associated neutral sphingomyelinase activity in orienting chemotactic migration of human neutrophils. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 44:205-12
Yang, Dongli; Elner, Susan G; Clark, Andrea J et al. (2011) Activation of P2X receptors induces apoptosis in human retinal pigment epithelium. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 52:1522-30
Clark, Andrea J; Petty, Howard R (2010) A cell permeant peptide containing the cytoplasmic tail sequence of Fc receptor type IIA reduces calcium signaling and phagolysosome formation in neutrophils. Cell Immunol 261:153-8
Sitrin, Robert G; Sassanella, Timothy M; Landers, Jeffrey J et al. (2010) Migrating human neutrophils exhibit dynamic spatiotemporal variation in membrane lipid organization. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 43:498-506
Clark, Andrea J; Diamond, Michelle; Elfline, Megan et al. (2010) Calicum microdomains form within neutrophils at the neutrophil-tumor cell synapse: role in antibody-dependent target cell apoptosis. Cancer Immunol Immunother 59:149-59
Yang, Dongli; Elner, Susan G; Lin, Li-Ren et al. (2009) Association of superoxide anions with retinal pigment epithelial cell apoptosis induced by mononuclear phagocytes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 50:4998-5005
Rosenspire, Allen J; Kindzelskii, Andrei L; Simon, Bruce J et al. (2005) Real-time control of neutrophil metabolism by very weak ultra-low frequency pulsed magnetic fields. Biophys J 88:3334-47
Kindzelskii, Andrei L; Petty, Howard R (2005) Ion channel clustering enhances weak electric field detection by neutrophils: apparent roles of SKF96365-sensitive cation channels and myeloperoxidase trafficking in cellular responses. Eur Biophys J 35:1-26
Kindzelskii, Andrei L; Amhad, Imran; Keller, Donald et al. (2004) Pericellular proteolysis by leukocytes and tumor cells on substrates: focal activation and the role of urokinase-type plasminogen activator. Histochem Cell Biol 121:299-310
Petty, Howard R (2004) Dynamic chemical instabilities in living cells may provide a novel route in drug development. Chembiochem 5:1359-64

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