Immune Response to Cancer Therapy: Mounting an Effective Antitumor Response and Mechanisms of Resistance

Objectives: Evidence suggests that disgust responses, known to negatively affect psychological wellbeing, may differ in people with cancer. We performed the first quantitative investigation of three discrete types of disgust trait -disgust propensity, sensitivity, and self-directed disgust -in people diagnosed with a broad range of cancers (versus cancer-free controls), and explored their associations with psychological wellbeing. Design:In a cross-sectional survey design, 107 participants with heterogeneous cancer diagnoses, recruited from cancer charities and support groups, were matched with cancer-free controls by age and gender.Outcome measures: Measures of the three disgust traits were taken alongside measures of anxiety and depression.Results: Disgust sensitivity and physical self-disgust were significantly higher in the cancer than control sample, while disgust propensity and behavioural self-disgust were lower. The disgust traits had a different pattern of associations to psychological wellbeing across the two groups, with disgust sensitivity predicting depressive symptoms to a significantly greater extent in the cancer than control group. Conclusions

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Background Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an effective therapy for cancers and is a minimally invasive therapy with low dark toxicity and limited side effects. PDT employs the combination of photosensitizers with a specific light source to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) to damage tumor cells. Methods We fabricated nanoparticles encapsulating curcumin through crosslinking chitosan and tripolyphosphate (TPP). Additionally, the chitosan was conjugated to epidermal growth factor in order to target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), overexpressed on cancer cells. To investigate PDT using fabricated nanoparticles, we measured cell viabilities and ROS production in relation to EGFR-overexpressing gastric cancer cells and non-cancer gastric cells. Results The targeting nanoparticles displayed a superior PDT effect in the cancer cell, with a resultant approximately fourfold decrease in the IC 50 . The PDT mechanism of curcumin-encapsulated nanoparticles is further identified as the generation of 1 O 2 , the major pathway in PDT. Conclusion These curcumin-encapsulated chitosan/TPP nanoparticles are a promising targeted-PDT against EGFR-overexpressing cancers.