Investigating the immunomodulatory effects of in-vitro H-FIRE ablation of osteosarcoma

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Presentation Time: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Poster Board Number: B1031
Abstract ID: 4875

Presenting Author:
Manali N Patwardhan , Graduate student at Virginia Tech

Abstract:

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary bone cancer in humans and canines. Metastasis poses a major challenge to improved survival in OS, necessitating a novel treatment approach. High-frequency irreversible electroporation (H-FIRE) is a technique that uses electrical pulses to create pores on cell membranes, causing cell death. H-FIRE can also promote an anti-tumor immune response mediated by release of damage-associated molecular patterns and tumor antigens. Our study aims to investigate the immunomodulatory effects of H-FIRE ablation of human (143B), murine (DLM8), and canine (D17) OS. We hypothesized that H-FIRE promotes pro-inflammatory signatures in macrophages. We performed immunophenotyping and gene expression analysis of species-specific macrophages co-cultured with H-FIRE treated OS cells at 24, 48, and 72 hours. Preliminary data indicated significant upregulation of activation markers CD80, CD86, and MHC II on murine macrophages and similar trend of CD80 upregulation on canine macrophages exposed to species-specific H-FIRE treated OS cells. Across all species, upregulation of genes associated with cytokine response, immune response, and chemotaxis in macrophages exposed to H-FIRE treated OS cells relative to negative control was observed. Our results indicate that H-FIRE ablation of OS may induce pro-inflammatory macrophage signatures potentially providing foundational data for developing H-FIRE as immunomodulatory strategy for treating metastatic OS.