Biology subjects

Soenen, S. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Soenen, S. J..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Longitudinally cultured precision cut lung slices as a predictive ex vivo model for lung cancer

Exploring alternatives to in vivo models, this study validates Precision Cut Lung Slices (PCLS) as a viable ex vivo platform for lung cancer research. We established the prolonged viability and structural preservation of PCLS, essential for accurate drug response studies. Using Paclitaxel as a benchmark drug and a therapeutically promising silver nanoparticles in combination with immunotherapy, we conducted a pioneering comparative analysis of its therapeutic effects on PCLS against traditional in vivo models. Results revealed that PCLS closely mimics in vivo responses, demonstrating comparable drug efficacy in tumor growth inhibition. This direct comparison not only confirms the utility of PCLS in simulating real-world outcomes but also emphasizes its potential in reducing animal testing. By providing a reliable, ethical, and efficient alternative for lung cancer studies, PCLS could significantly enhance preclinical research and drug development, marking a critical step towards more humane and representative scientific investigations.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Silver nanoparticle induced immunogenic cell death can improve immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy is often hindered by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Various strategies are being evaluated to shift the TME from an immunologically cold to hot tumor and hereby improve current immune checkpoint blockades (ICB). One particular hot topic is the use of combination therapies. Here, we set out to screen a variety of metallic nanoparticles and explored their in-vitro toxicity against a series of tumor and non-tumor cell lines. For silver nanoparticles, we also explored the effects of core size and surface chemistry on cytotoxicity. Ag-citrate-5nm nanoparticles were found to induce high cytotoxicity in Renca cells through excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and significantly increased cytokine production. The induced toxicity resulted in a shift of the immunogenic cell death (ICD) marker calreticulin to the cell surface in-vitro and in-vivo. Subcutaneous Renca tumors were treated with anti-PD1 or in combination with Ag-citrate-5nm. The combination group resulted in significant reduction in tumor size, increased necrosis, and immune cell infiltration at the tumor site. Inhibition of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells confirmed the involvement of these cells in the observed therapeutic effects. Our results suggest that Ag-citrate-5nm is able to promote immune cell influx and increase tumor responsiveness to ICB therapies.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Chemotherapy-driven de novo Wnt pathway activation dictates a dynamic shift to a drug-tolerant state in breast cancer cells

The efficacy of chemotherapy is often hindered by the enrichment of a population of cancer cells that enter a drug-tolerant persister (DTP) state, mimicking embryonic diapause, yet the underlying mechanisms of this transition remain poorly understood. This study demonstrates that both parental and chemotherapy-induced Wnt-active (WntHigh) cells in Triple-negative breast cancer exhibit transcriptional and functional properties characteristic of DTP cells, including a diapause transcriptional signature, reduced MYC expression, reversible restricted proliferation, and pronounced chemoresistance. Our findings reveal that the de novo activation of the Wnt signaling pathway, triggered by the transcriptional upregulation of components essential for canonical Wnt ligand-secretion and -activation, is critical for enriching the diapause-DTP (DTPDiap) population across various chemotherapy regimens. The diapause-DTP/WntHigh population can be selectively ablated by concomitant, rather than sequential, pharmacological inhibition of Wnt ligand-secretion alongside chemotherapy, highlighting new vulnerabilities in DTPDiap cell-emergence and potentially yielding a therapeutic opportunity against DTPs. This study shows that activation of Wnt signaling pathway is sufficient and necessary for the induction of a DTPDiap state and enhances our understanding of the introductory mechanisms driving DTP cell-enrichment upon chemotherapy.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Vessel normalization and maturation promotes nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors while minimizing metastases.

Nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors is known to be an inefficient process and various studies have tried to increase efficacy, but mechanistic and comparative studies remain scarce. Here, we use pharmacological agents to study the effect of vessel normalization or vessel disintegration on nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors. Using a multiparametric approach, we find that vessel disintegration fails to improve nanoparticle delivery and instead seems to have a limiting effect. Vessel normalization, however, improves delivery efficacy for nanoparticles ranging from 20 to 60 nm diameter. The normalization of the tumor blood vessels results in reduced hypoxia, reduced necrosis and an increase in Plvap+ CD276+ endothelial cells, which have been linked with nanoparticle delivery. Interestingly, where vessel disintegration stimulated cancer cell intravasation and associated metastases, vessel normalization impeded these processes. Together, these data reveal that, vessel normalization may be a safer and more suited approach for improving nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors, but its efficacy is limited by nanoparticle diameter and tumor parameters. Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=79 SRC="FIGDIR/small/538559v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (28K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@17e5e08org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@14f82dcorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@118708eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@18593d0_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

pharmacology and toxicology↗