New therapeutic options for Group 3-Medulloblastoma in an Orthotopic Mouse Model

Das Medulloblastom ist der häufigste, maligne Hirntumor des Kindesalters. In den letzten Jahren ist es gelungen, molekularbiologisch definierte Subgruppen innerhalb dieser Tumorentität zu definieren, die sich durch ein unterschiedliches therapeutisches Ansprechen differenzieren lassen. Es werden vier Gruppen abgegrenzt: Tumore mit Aktivierung des WNT-Signalwegs, des SHH-Signalwegs, sowie der Gruppe 3, die sich vor allem durch eine Myc Amplifikation auszeichnen und Gruppe 4, in der MycN amplifiziert wird. Während Patienten mit SHH- und WNT-Tumoren eher eine günstige Prognose haben, ist der Bedarf an neuen Therapieansätzen für Patienten mit Gruppe 3- und Gruppe 4-Tumoren auf Grund der schlechten Prognose sehr hoch. Die aus einem malignen Pleuraerguss eines Gruppe 3-Medulloblastom Patienten gewonnenen Tumorzellen konnten erfolgreich als permanente Zelllinie etabliert sowie in vitro und in vivo charakterisiert werden. Dieses Tumormodell habe ich in meiner Dissertationsarbeit genutzt um die zytotoxische Wirkung neuer Zytostatika und Inhibitoren Kombinationen auf das Gruppe 3-Medulloblastom in vitro und im Tiermodell zu untersuchen. Bei der Auswahl neuer Therapieansätze galt die Maßgabe, Substanzen zu wählen, die für den klinischen Einsatz geeignet sind, neue gezielte zytostatische Mechanismen aufweisen und bei denen bereits publizierte Vorarbeiten nahelegen, dass diese das ZNS tatsächlich erreichen. In unserem in vitro Modell testeten wir 23 Substanzen und wählten dann die fünf vielversprechendsten für das subkutane Tumormausmodell aus. Als Vergleichsgruppen für das Therapieansprechen wählten wir die Kombination aus Cisplatin und Etoposid, die gerade bei den Patienten mit einem HochrisikoMedulloblastom die Therapie der Wahl ist. Im ersten Tierversuch konnte gezeigt werden, dass Gemcitabin als Monotherapie den gleichen zytotoxischen Therapieeffekt zeigt, wie Cisplatin und Etoposid in Kombination. Deshalb war nun das Ziel eine Substanz zu finden, welche dann in Kombination mit Gemcitabin einen besseres Therapieansprechen als die Standardtherapie zeigt. Bei der Tumorpräparation im initialen Tierversuch fiel auf, dass die Tumoren stark vaskularisiert sind. Nach dieser Beobachtung stellten wir uns die Fragen, ob die Inhibition des Vaskularisierungsvorgangs im Tumor einen additiven zytotoxischen Effekt auf das Tumorwachstum hat. Daraufhin erweiterten wir die Suche nach geeigneten Substanzen für das Gruppe 3-Medulloblastom um Multikinaseinhibitoren, die auch VEGF-Rezeptoren inhibieren. Überraschenderweise konnten wir zeigen das Gemcitabin in Kombination mit verschiedenen VEGF-Rezeptor-Inhibitoren in den Toxizitätsversuchen in vitro eine 10.000 fach niedrigere EC50 hat als die Kombination aus Cisplatin und Etoposid. Auch in den anschließenden Tierversuchen konnten wir zeigen, dass Gemcitabin in Kombination mit Axitinib einen besseren Therapieerfolg bezogen auf das Tumorwachstum zeigt, als die bisherige Standardtherapie. Darüber hinaus verloren die Tiere, die mit Gemcitabin und Axitinib behandelt wurden deutlich weniger an Gewicht, als die Tiere die die Standardtherapie erhielten. Zusammenfassend können wir zeigen, dass Axitinib, ein neuer pan-VEGF-Rezeptor-Inhibitor der bisher nur in anderen Tumorentitäten wie dem Nierenzellkarzinom zum Einsatz kommt, in Kombination mit Gemcitabin, einem Nukleosidanalogon, einen deutlichen zytotoxischen Effekt an Medulloblastom Zelllinien in vitro als auch im subkutanen und orthotopen Tiermodell hat. Diese Ergebnisse könnten die Basis sein für neue therapeutische Strategien gegen das Gruppe 3-Medulloblastom bei Kindern, die die bisherige Therapie nicht mehr tolerieren oder bereits irreversible Nebenwirkungen der Standardtherapie entwickelt habenMedulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in childhood. In the last few years, it could be successfully defined new molecular subgroups within this tumor entity, which also were defined through a different response to therapy. Four groups are delineated: tumors with activation of the WNT signaling pathway, the SHH signaling pathway, group 3, which are mainly characterizied by myc-c amplification and group 4, in which myc-n is amplified. While patients with SHH and WNT tumors tend to have a favorable prognosis, the need for new therapeutic approaches for patients with group 3 and group 4 tumors is very high due to the poor prognosis. ..

A comparable Wikipedia corpus: from wiki syntax to POS tagged XML

To build a comparable Wikipedia corpus of German, French, Italian, Norwegian, Polish and Hungarian for contrastive grammar research, we used a set of XSLT stylesheets to transform the mediawiki anntations to XML. Furthermore, the data has been amnntated with word class information using different taggers. The outcome is a corpus with rich meta data and linguistic annotation that can be used for multilingual research in various linguistic topics

Non-Invasive Bioluminescence Imaging to Monitor the Immunological Control of a Plasmablastic Lymphoma-Like B Cell Neoplasia after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

To promote cancer research and to develop innovative therapies, refined pre-clinical mouse tumor models that mimic the actual disease in humans are of dire need. A number of neoplasms along the B cell lineage are commonly initiated by a translocation recombining c-myc with the immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene locus. The translocation is modeled in the C.129S1-Ighatm1(Myc)Janz/J mouse which has been previously engineered to express c-myc under the control of the endogenous IgH promoter. This transgenic mouse exhibits B cell hyperplasia and develops diverse B cell tumors. We have isolated tumor cells from the spleen of a C.129S1-Ighatm1(Myc)Janz/J mouse that spontaneously developed a plasmablastic lymphoma-like disease. These cells were cultured, transduced to express eGFP and firefly luciferase, and gave rise to a highly aggressive, transplantable B cell lymphoma cell line, termed IM380. This model bears several advantages over other models as it is genetically induced and mimics the translocation that is detectable in a number of human B cell lymphomas. The growth of the tumor cells, their dissemination, and response to treatment within immunocompetent hosts can be imaged non-invasively in vivo due to their expression of firefly luciferase. IM380 cells are radioresistant in vivo and mice with established tumors can be allogeneically transplanted to analyze graft-versus-tumor effects of transplanted T cells. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation of tumor-bearing mice results in prolonged survival. These traits make the IM380 model very valuable for the study of B cell lymphoma pathophysiology and for the development of innovative cancer therapies

Tumor Necrosis Factor Induces Tumor Promoting and Anti-Tumoral Effects on Pancreatic Cancer via TNFR1

Multiple activities are ascribed to the cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in health and disease. In particular, TNF was shown to affect carcinogenesis in multiple ways. This cytokine acts via the activation of two cell surface receptors, TNFR1, which is associated with inflammation, and TNFR2, which was shown to cause anti-inflammatory signaling. We assessed the effects of TNF and its two receptors on the progression of pancreatic cancer by in vivo bioluminescence imaging in a syngeneic orthotopic tumor mouse model with Panc02 cells. Mice deficient for TNFR1 were unable to spontaneously reject Panc02 tumors and furthermore displayed enhanced tumor progression. In contrast, a fraction of wild type (37.5%), TNF deficient (12.5%), and TNFR2 deficient mice (22.2%) were able to fully reject the tumor within two weeks. Pancreatic tumors in TNFR1 deficient mice displayed increased vascular density, enhanced infiltration of CD4+ T cells and CD4+ forkhead box P3 (FoxP3)+ regulatory T cells (Treg) but reduced numbers of CD8+ T cells. These alterations were further accompanied by transcriptional upregulation of IL4. Thus, TNF and TNFR1 are required in pancreatic ductal carcinoma to ensure optimal CD8+ T cell-mediated immunosurveillance and tumor rejection. Exogenous systemic administration of human TNF, however, which only interacts with murine TNFR1, accelerated tumor progression. This suggests that TNFR1 has basically the capability in the Panc02 model to trigger pro-and anti-tumoral effects but the spatiotemporal availability of TNF seems to determine finally the overall outcome

Cytotoxic effects and tolerability of gemcitabine and axitinib in a xenograft model for c-myc amplified medulloblastoma

Medulloblastoma is the most common high-grade brain tumor in childhood. Medulloblastomas with c-myc amplification, classified as group 3, are the most aggressive among the four disease subtypes resulting in a 5-year overall survival of just above 50%. Despite current intensive therapy regimens, patients suffering from group 3 medulloblastoma urgently require new therapeutic options. Using a recently established c-myc amplified human medulloblastoma cell line, we performed an in-vitro-drug screen with single and combinatorial drugs that are either already clinically approved or agents in the advanced stage of clinical development. Candidate drugs were identified in vitro and then evaluated in vivo. Tumor growth was closely monitored by BLI. Vessel development was assessed by 3D light-sheet-fluorescence-microscopy. We identified the combination of gemcitabine and axitinib to be highly cytotoxic, requiring only low picomolar concentrations when used in combination. In the orthotopic model, gemcitabine and axitinib showed efficacy in terms of tumor control and survival. In both models, gemcitabine and axitinib were better tolerated than the standard regimen comprising of cisplatin and etoposide phosphate. 3D light-sheet-fluorescence-microscopy of intact tumors revealed thinning and rarefication of tumor vessels, providing one explanation for reduced tumor growth. Thus, the combination of the two drugs gemcitabine and axitinib has favorable effects on preventing tumor progression in an orthotopic group 3 medulloblastoma xenograft model while exhibiting a favorable toxicity profile. The combination merits further exploration as a new approach to treat high-risk group 3 medulloblastoma

Generation of the malignantIgH-myc-driven plasmablastic lymphoma-like B cell line IM380.

<p><b>A</b>: Photomicrograph of the initial tumor in a five months old C.129S1-<i>Igha</i>^tm1(Myc)Janz/J mouse. The abdominal tumor mass shows starry sky-like areas indicative of widespread apoptosis and infiltrating macrophages. The left picture shows 100× and the right picture 400× magnification, H and E staining. <b>B</b>: Malignant splenocytes were cultured <i>in vitro</i> and gave rise to the IM380 cell line that was characterized for its expression of various B cell markers and activation-associated proteins by flow cytometry. (Representative results from at least two independent experiments). <b>C</b>: IM380 cells were treated <i>in vitro</i> with different chemotherapeutics for 48 h before being subjected to annexin V/propidium iodide staining. Upper panel: Exemplary flow cytometry data for etoposide treatment. Lower panel: The graph shows the sensitivity of the cells towards the different compounds, expressed as their respective IC₅₀-values. (Mean ± SEM; combined data from four independent experiments). <b>D</b>: Luciferase-transgenic IM380 tumor cells were co-cultured with activated T cells for 72 h. Tumor cell numbers were assessed by their <i>in vitro</i> bioluminescence (upper panel and graphic evaluation in lower panel). Co-cultures were set up in triplicates each and compared to the 1∶1 culture. Flow cytometric assessment of MHC expression on IM380 cells. (Representative results from two independent experiments).</p

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation of tumor-bearing mice results in prolonged survival.

<p>10⁵ luciferase-transgenic IM380 tumor cells were injected i.v. via the lateral tail vein into syngeneic BALB/c mice. Six days after tumor cell inoculation, mice were lethally irradiated with 8 Gy and transplanted with 5×10⁶ bone marrow cells and 0.5×10⁶ enriched splenic T cells from C57Bl/6 mice. <b>A and B</b>: Tumor growth was assessed by non-invasive <i>in vivo</i> BLI at the indicated time points (Mean ± SEM; n = 5; shown is one representative experiment out of two). <b>C</b>: Survival after allogeneic transplantation (n = 9–10; combined data from two independent experiments).</p

Non-invasive assessment of <i>in vivo</i> tumor growth and dissemination.

<p><b>A</b>: 10⁵ luciferase-transgenic IM380 tumor cells were injected i.v. into the lateral tail vein into syngeneic BALB/c mice. Tumor growth was assessed by non-invasive <i>in vivo</i> BLI at the indicated time points. <b>B</b>: Representative BLI pictures of tumor-bearing mice. <b>C</b>: Tumor dissemination was determined by counting individual light-emitting tumor foci. <b>D</b>: Upper panel: Representative <i>ex vivo</i> BLI picture of a tumor bearing mouse (lu: lung, cLN: cervical lymph nodes, thy: thymus, hea: heart, ki: kidney, iLN: inguinal lymph nodes, li: liver, fe: femur, ti: tibia, sb: small bowel, lb: large bowel, mLN: mesenteric lymph nodes, st: stomach, cae: caecum, spl: spleen). Lower panel: Evaluation of tumor cell infiltration in individual organs. A–D: (Mean ± SEM; n = 5; shown is one representative experiment out of two). <b>E</b>: Representative eosin and hematoxylinstainings of organs from tumor bearing mice shown in 200× magnification.</p

MB3W1 is an orthotopic xenograft model for anaplastic medulloblastoma displaying cancer stem cell- and Group 3-properties

Background Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children and can be divided in different molecular subgroups. Patients whose tumor is classified as a Group 3 tumor have a dismal prognosis. However only very few tumor models are available for this subgroup. Methods We established a robust orthotopic xenograft model with a cell line derived from the malignant pleural effusions of a child suffering from a Group 3 medulloblastoma. Results Besides classical characteristics of this tumor subgroup, the cells display cancer stem cell characteristics including neurosphere formation, multilineage differentiation, CD133/CD15 expression, high ALDH-activity and high tumorigenicity in immunocompromised mice with xenografts exactly recapitulating the original tumor architecture. Conclusions This model using unmanipulated, human medulloblastoma cells will enable translational research, specifically focused on Group 3 medulloblastoma