Tumor Microenvironment

A promising tool to elucidate the molecular characteristics of HCC are patient-derived organoids (PDOs), three-dimensional cultures of cells that self-organise according to tissue-specific patterns and can be used to test the susceptibility of a specific tumour to anticancer agents. In this study, PDOs for HCC will be developed that closely resemble the tumour microenvironment in vivo and mimic the crosstalk of the gut-liver axis to establish a correlation with patient prognosis and test the efficacy of available systemic therapies.

Background Regular exercise can significantly improve physical and mental health during cancer treatment and reduce the time needed in the hospital. Animal studies suggest that exercise training can also reduce the number of cancer cells. For example, exercise training in mice produces more immune cells in the tumour. These immune cells in the tumour contribute to the destruction and reduction of the size of the tumour and are a vital component of effective immunotherapy (cancer treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer). In humans, exercise training and the immune response in tumours are less understood. Only 1 study has investigated the effect of a single exercise session before surgical removal of the prostate in prostate cancer patients. As the benefits of exercise are gained from weeks/months of exercise, no effect on the immune cells in the tumours were found. The investigators have carried out a previous study looking at how exercise affects fitness before major surgery. After this they used state-of-the-art methods to detect and visualise immune cells within the tumour. Compared with the patients who did not exercise, the exercise group had significantly more immune cells in their tumours, consisting of a group of cells that are important for killing cancerous cells called CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T cells in tumours are associated with improved survival outcomes. Importantly, they found a link between changes in fitness and the amount of these cells in the tumour. This suggests that if there is increase in fitness, there also an increase in the frequency of these cells in the tumour. Therefore, the investigators propose performing a clinical trial to find out the best level of exercise patients need to sustain before surgery to produce this improved immune response. The trial will aim to understand how this happens and how the entry of immune cells into the tumour changes the environment around a tumour. The investigators consist of a team of exercise immunologists, tumour immunologists and clinicians working with the Human Performance Institute at the University of Surrey in collaboration with the Royal Surrey NHS Trust. How it will be done The investigators will assess immune cell response in blood samples obtained from oesophageal cancer patients before, during and after a high or low intensity exercise programme. Following the exercise programme, tumour tissue removed at surgery from these patients will be used to investigate the the presence and quantity of these immune cells. Potential impact A better understanding of this is important, as current anti-cancer immune-based therapeutics work best when there is a an immune response within the patient's tumour. Generating evidence that exercise can improve the immune response against the tumour in patients with oesophageal cancer would provide significant justification for introducing "personalised" exercise programmes to improve treatment outcomes.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary brain tumor, and it is well-known to be associated with a poor prognosis. MRI is the key medical technique for the diagnosis and the follow-up of GBM. By allowing for MRS studies, MRI permits a non-invasive characterization of the TME of GBM, including their metabolic characterization. The investigators propose to address the link between the MRS profile of GBM and basic clinical and biological parameters, with the aim of : i) identifying correlations between these parameters, ii) attempting to integrate clinical, biological and spectroscopic profiles of GBM. The investigators plan to recruit 30 newly diagnosed GBM patients for which surgery / radiochemotherapy will be proposed in the Medical oncology unit of Amiens University Hospital. Following inclusion of patients with probable GBM, MRS study will be performed during the first (pre-therapeutic) MRI examination. Basic clinical and biological parameters of the blood (CRP, complete blood count, fibrinogen, lactate and choline) will be assessed. A metabolomic study will also be performed on the plasma of GBM patients before any therapeutics. A second biological, post-therapeutic assesment (one month after surgery/radiochemotherapy) will allow the same analyses (basic biological parameters + plasma metabolomics), in order to examine the stability of the blood parameters.

The primary objective of this study is to investigate whether two weeks of metformin treatment can activate the tumour microenvironment in patients with stage II and III oesophageal adenocarcinomas.

Bagaev et al. have identified four tumor microenvironment (TME) subtypes that are conserved across diverse cancers and correlated with immunotherapy response in melanoma, bladder, and gastric cancers. They provided a visual tool revealing the TME subtypes integrated with targetable genomic alterations, which provided a planetary view of each tumor that can aid in oncology clinical decision making. We aim to use this tool to prospectively analyse the biopsy specimens of osteosarcomas to identify their TME subtypes so as to deliver appropriate treatment strategy if these osteosarcomas experience disease progression afterwards. We will compare the past sequencing date stored in PKUPH bank so as to compare the event-free survival(EFS) of these patients to check the Superiority of this method later.

This study aims to explore the prognostic value of pathological remission after one cycle of induction chemotherapy in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and the change of immune micro-environment after one cycle induction chemotherapy, including the density of immune cells infiltration and tertiary lymphoid structures.