Akanksha Gangar, PhD, Study Director
28 novembre 2019 – 17h
Immunological cell death (ICD) is a form of cancer cell death induced by radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy and chemotherapeutic agents. Unlike apoptosis or necrosis, ICD can induce an effective immune response directed against the tumor whereby both dendritic cells and T lymphocytes are mediators of this response. Dying cancer cells recruit and activate immune cells by releasing damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs).
Using our in-house developed screening strategy facilitated by an in vitro platform with four assays, we have identified and characterized several ICD inducers and a Nanocyclix compound for the three key DAMPs and cell viability in several cell lines. Evaluation of phagocytosis and cytokine levels showed that ICD activates both innate and adaptive arms of the immune system. With respect to cancer immunotherapy, the ICD process elicits enhanced adjuvanticity and antigenicity from dying cancer cells and consequently, promotes the development of clinically desired antitumor immunity.
In essence, we describe a novel strategy for the identification of ICD inducers within large chemical libraries followed by ex-vivo co-culture assays to demonstrate enhanced DC and T cell function.
Key learning objectives
- Introduction to ICD
- How Oncodesign can help you to identify/characterize ICD inducers
- Case study
About our speaker Akanksha Gangar
Akanksha Gangar obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science. She then continued as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study cell polarity. In 2005, Akanksha joined INSERM, France as a Research Scientist to work on cell polarity in an oncological context. She joined GSK, France in 2007 to support their drug development in hypertension, diabetes, obesity and oncology. In 2016, Akanksha joined Oncodesign’s in vitro department as a Study director focusing on cancer related projects.