FURI | Spring 2020

Discovering Factors That Drive the Migration of Immune Cells Into Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Tumors

The goal of this research was to map the network of interactions influencing immune cell migration. A series of filters were applied to a transcriptional regulatory network to prioritize a list of chemokines, cytokines, and immunomodulatory genes associated with increased infiltration of immune cells related to patient survival. The chemokine IL-18 was identified as a factor influencing natural killer cell infiltration into malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Currently experimentally determining if patient-derived MPM cell lines express IL-18, and developing a Boyden chamber assay to determine if IL-18 induces chemotaxis and tissue invasion.