Cancer Biology

Microwave ablation (MWA) is a thermal ablation technique widely used for local tumor control that has the added potential to stimulate systemic anti-tumor immunity. Although MWA alone rarely eliminates recurrent or metastatic disease, its ability to remodel the tumor microenvironment makes it a promising partner for adoptive cell therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells. However, reproducible protocols for combining these approaches remain limited. This protocol describes the integration of MWA with CAR-T therapy in tumor-bearing mouse models. Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (Hep3B and SK-HEP-1) are inoculated subcutaneously into NOG mice to establish tumors. Localized MWA is performed at adjustable power and duration to induce partial or complete ablation. At defined intervals following MWA, CAR-T cells derived from healthy donor T cells and transduced with a lentiviral vector are injected intravenously. This experimental design uniquely separates MWA and CAR-T delivery, enabling precise evaluation of thermal preconditioning effects on the tumor microenvironment and subsequent CAR-T activity. By combining localized ablation with adoptive immunotherapy, the protocol provides a translationally relevant platform to optimize treatment timing, enhance CAR-T efficacy in solid tumors, and address key barriers in tumor immunology and cancer therapy.

This protocol describes the preparation, administration, and analysis of a nanoparticle-based therapeutic strategy (nanoPDLIM2) in combination with PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade immunotherapy and chemotherapy for the treatment of lung cancer in mouse preclinical studies. NanoPDLIM2 uses a polyethyleneimine (PEI)-based delivery system that encapsulates PDLIM2 expression plasmids for reconstituting PDLIM2 that is repressed in tumors. This approach induces tumor immunogenicity, suppresses drug resistance, and improves treatment efficacy when used in combination with carboplatin, paclitaxel, and anti-PD-1 antibodies. The protocol describes steps for mouse lung tumor induction, nanoPDLIM2 and other therapeutic reagents’ preparation and administration, and subsequent analysis of tumor burden, immune response, and toxicity, providing a reproducible approach for investigators.

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a major obstacle to the diagnostics and treatment of many central nervous system (CNS) diseases. A prime example of this challenge is seen in glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive and malignant primary brain tumor. The BBB in brain tumors, or the blood–brain–tumor barrier (BBTB), prevents the efficient delivery of most therapeutics to brain tumors. Current strategies to overcome the BBB for therapeutic delivery, such as using hyperosmotic agents (mannitol), have impeded progress in clinical translation limited by the lack of spatial resolution, high incidences of complications, and potential for toxicity. Focused ultrasound combined with intravenously administered microbubbles enables the transient disruption of the BBB and has progressed to early-phase clinical trials. However, the poor survival with currently approved treatments for GBM highlights the compelling need to develop and validate treatment strategies as well as the screening for more potent anticancer drugs. In this protocol, we introduce an optical method to open the BBTB (OptoBBTB) for therapeutic delivery via ultrashort pulse laser stimulation of vascular targeting plasmonic gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Specifically, the protocol includes the synthesis and characterization of vascular-targeting AuNPs and a detailed procedure of optoBBTB. We also report the downstream characterization of the drug delivery and tumor treatment efficacy after BBB modulation. Compared with other barrier modulation methods, our optical approach has advantages in high spatial resolution and minimally invasive access to tissues. Overall, optoBBTB allows for the delivery of a variety of therapeutics into the brain and will accelerate drug delivery and screening for CNS disease treatment.

Key features

• Pulsed laser excitation of vascular-targeting gold nanoparticles non-invasively and reversibly modulates the blood–brain barrier permeability.

• OptoBBTB enhances drug delivery in clinically relevant glioblastoma models.

• OptoBBTB has the potential for drug screening and evaluation for superficial brain tumor treatment.

Graphical overview

Resistance of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells to chemotherapy, whether present at diagnosis or acquired during treatment, is a major cause of treatment failure. Primary ALL cells are accessible for drug sensitivity testing at the time of new diagnosis or at relapse, but there are major limitations with current methods for determining drug sensitivity ex vivo. Here, we describe a functional precision medicine method using a fluorescence imaging platform to test drug sensitivity profiles of primary ALL cells. Leukemia cells are co-cultured with mesenchymal stromal cells and tested with a panel of 40 anti-leukemia drugs to determine individual patterns of drug resistance and sensitivity (“pharmacotype”). This imaging-based pharmacotyping assay addresses the limitations of prior ex vivo drug sensitivity methods by automating data analysis to produce high-throughput data while requiring fewer cells and significantly decreasing the labor-intensive time required to conduct the assay. The integration of drug sensitivity data with genomic profiling provides a basis for rational genomics-guided precision medicine.

Key features

• Analysis of primary acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) blasts obtained at diagnosis from bone marrow aspirate or peripheral blood.

• Experiments are performed ex vivo with mesenchymal stromal cell co-culture and require four days to complete.

• This fluorescence imaging–based protocol enhances previous ex vivo drug sensitivity assays and improves efficiency by requiring fewer primary cells while increasing the number of drugs tested to 40.

• It takes approximately 2–3 h for sample preparation and processing and a 1.5-hour imaging time.

Graphical overview

BM: bone marrow; PB: peripheral blood; ALL: acute lymphoblastic leukemia; MNCs: mononuclear cells, which include leukemia cells when present; MSCs: mesenchymal stromal cells; LC50: drug concentration that kills 50% of the leukemia cells