Various immunological modulators have the potential to provide an anti-tumor immune-driven response, which is evaluated through in vivo efficacy across valuable and relevant in vivo models, and thus offer promising approaches for cancer therapy. Efficiency of many of these modulators is usually underlied by a strong impact on the immune system which needs to be depicted through relevant models and immunological readouts, in order to see whether the modulation of immune subset responses correlates with the impact of therapeutics on tumor growth in untreated and challenged mice. Notably, depending on their responsiveness degree to different immune checkpoint inhibitors and therapies, tumor models differ in extent and type of immune cell modulation, while the in vivo tumor responses can be similar. Profiling immune cell function permits for building a complete package with in vivo data for a deeper understanding of how a cancer therapy performs.
Explicyte has developed and validated a comprehensive panel of tools aiming at evaluating the modulation of the immune system response by novel therapies in syngeneic tumor-bearing mice, in the presence of a functionally immunocompetent system. Profiling of immune function of key cell subsets can be performed both at the tumor site level and in peripheral compartments e.g. blood, spleen, tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs)…, through assaying cell surface markers, cell activation markers, antigen-specific T lymphocyte markers, MDSC (myeloid-derived suppressor cells) markers, cytokines release, and immunological marker-encoding genes, using appropriate methodologies and platforms (e.g. flow cytometry, RT-qPCR, immunohistology-based imaging…).