Inflammatory tumor microenvironment as target in the design of nanoconjugates for the treatment of advanced breast cancer

• Autores: Paula Soriano Teruel
• Directores de la Tesis: M. Mar Orzáez Calatayud (dir. tes.), María J. Vicent Docon (dir. tes.), María Desamparados Pascual Ahuir Giner (tut. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de València ( España ) en 2023
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: José Manuel García Pichel (presid.), Cristina Fornaguera i Puigvert (secret.), Pilar Eroles Asensio (voc.)
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Biotecnología por la Universitat Politècnica de València
• Materias:
  • Química
  • Ciencias de la vida
    • Biología celular
    • Inmunología
  • Ciencias médicas
    • Ciencias clínicas
      • Oncología
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: RiuNet
• Resumen

  • This PhD thesis entitled "The inflammatory tumor microenvironment as a target in the design of nanoconjugates for the treatment of advanced breast cancer" focuses on the evaluation of a novel inflammasome inhibitor (MM01) as a chemical tool to study the role of the inflammasome in models of inflammation and cancer. Chapter I includes an overview of the immune system, ASC-dependent inflammasomes and the role they play in disease development. It also delves into the role of inflammasomes and ASC protein in breast cancer progression. In addition, basic concepts of nanotechnology, nanomedicine and therapeutic polymers are included. Finally, the advantages of using nanomedicines as therapeutics, the interactions of nanomedicines with biological systems, the nanodrugs described in the literature, as well as their translation possibilities to clinical practice are discussed. In the results chapters, we delineate a novel mechanism of action for MM01, a recently identified modulator of inflammasome activity: inhibition of ASC oligomerization and subsequent reduced pro-caspase-1 processing and inhibition of caspase-1 activity. We demonstrate that MM01 disrupts the ASC oligomerization process associated with the activity of several inflammasomes and inhibits IL-1ß release and pyroptosis in several cellular models of inflammation. MM01 also reduces neutrophil infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokine accumulation in an in vivo model of peritonitis. Given the involvement of ASC function in multiple inflammasome complexes, treatment with MM01 may represent an effective therapeutic approach to treat those diseases in which multiple inflammasome activation is involved. Considering the results obtained, we employed our inflammasome inhibitor, MM01, to study the role of the inflammasome in tumor progression in different breast cancer models both in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrate that different breast cancer cell lines respond differently to MM01 treatment. We developed a functional assay involving the assessment of breast cancer cell migration in response to the pro-inflammatory M1 macrophage secretome (inflammasome stimulus) in the presence of MM01. Certain cell lines (such as the EO771 cell line) showed increased migration in response to the inflammatory stimulus and decreased migration in response to MM01 treatment; however, we also identified cell lines that respond negatively to MM01 treatment (such as the 4T1 cell line). Finally, we demonstrated the efficacy of this functional experiment in vivo by showing that MM01 treatment reduced tumor size in the orthotopic EO771 model but increased tumor size and lung metastasis in the orthotopic 4T1 model. These two models, which recapitulate conflicting responses to treatment with our inflammasome inhibitor, may be used in the future to determine biomarkers predictive of response. Finally, we developed a synthetic strategy to obtain a novel nanomedicine that enhances the solubility and tumor targeting of MM01 in a breast cancer model. We implemented a hybrid conjugation-complexation approach comprising the conjugation of ß-cyclodextrin to a linear poly-L-glutamic acid (PGA) (L-PGA-ßCD) to provide the ability to trap MM01 within the cyclodextrin rings. The obtained nanosystem showed improved solubility in aqueous solutions compared to the free form of MM01. Our nanosystem demonstrated improved efficacy in an orthotopic breast cancer model by producing a greater reduction in tumor size in those mice treated with the L-PGA-CD-MM01 nanomedicine.