Using ferroptosis as a tool to enhance immunotherapy in cancer

Overview

Advances in cancer immunotherapy have dramatically changed the treatment landscape for cancer patients. However, a majority of patients treated with immunotherapy are either primary non-responders or eventually develop immune-refractory progressive disease and require additional therapy.

Ferroptosis is a novel mode of cell death that refers to iron-dependent regulatory death resulting from lipid peroxidation and consequent cytomembrane rupture.

Interestingly, ferroptotic tumour death can lead to improved antigen presentation which in turn can enhance anti-tumour immunity. As such studies have indicated that induction of ferroptosis can improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy in cancers.

The student project will involve the use of a panel of ferroptosis inducers, in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in cancer cells. The project will involve, transwell co-culture experiments, flow cytometry panels and investigate ferroptosis markers using targeted next gen sequencing and ddPCR.

Findings from this study will indicate the efficacy of using a combination strategy of ferroptosis inducers along with immunotherapy drugs to improve treatment outcomes in cancer.