Systemic impact of melanoma on bone marrow-derived immune cells

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Presentation Time: 04:30 PM - 04:45 PM
Abstract ID: 4444 - B

Presenting Author:
Alexis E Carey , PhD Candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Sch. of Pub. Hlth., Johns Hopkins Univ. Sch. of Med.

Abstract:

Melanoma accounts for the most skin cancer-related deaths in the United States. As patients age, antitumor responses decline, making age a negative independent prognostic factor of overall survival in melanoma. Delving into age-associated changes in lymphoid organs, such as increased bone marrow (BM) adiposity, could improve the understanding of the aged antitumor response. We hypothesize that the age-related increase in BM fat drives the functional decline of immune cells, ultimately hindering the systemic antitumor response to melanoma. We utilized flow cytometry to analyze melanoma and age-related alterations to the BM, blood, and tumor immune cell composition. Our preliminary data suggests that mice challenged with melanoma systemically increased granulocytes. However, only aged tumors had an increase in granulocyte infiltration. Meanwhile, T cells significantly decreased in the BM of tumor-bearing mice. Additionally, there was a significant increase in lipids in the BM T cells from non-tumor-bearing aged mice and a reduction in these lipids when mice were challenged with tumor. Thus, there appears to be an age-dependent systemic immune response when the mice are burdened with melanoma. As a future direction, we plan to investigate the role of the aged BM niche on the effectiveness of immunotherapies. These insights could lead to improved outcomes for elderly patients with melanoma.