Tracking the infiltration capacity of NK cells in breast cancer spheroids after violacein treatment

• Grant number: 24/05180-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: August 12, 2024
• End date: February 11, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
• Principal Investigator: Carmen Veríssima Ferreira
• Grantee: Beatriz Aires Lopes
• Supervisor: Fernando de Souza Fonseca Guimaraes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Queensland, Brisbane (UQ), Australia
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/15626-1 - Molecular and morphological parameters for monitoring the Drug Holiday protocol in 3D culture, BP.MS

Abstract

One of the main challenges in targeted therapy and immunotherapy is the poor treatmentresponse, attributed to biochemical and physical barriers that protect tumor cells, enablingtheir continuous adaptation and survival. Among these barriers, the crosstalk between thetumor-associated extracellular matrix and hypoxia is crucial to inactivating immune systemcells, antitumoral compounds, and immunotherapeutics. These are specifically relevant insome types of tumors like breast cancer. In this sense, combined therapies that focus onmodulating these barriers can be beneficial to improve the efficacy of targeted andimmunotherapies. Some studies show that violacein, a secondary metabolite fromCrhomobacterium violaceum, can downregulate membrane proteins and promote relevantdisorganization in the structure of cellular spheroids and, consequently, inhibit spheroidformation. Therefore, in this study, we propose to investigate whether the violaceintreatment can improve the NK cells infiltration in breast cancer spheroids through checking:I. Breast cancer spheroids response to violacein treatment; II. NK cells response toviolacein treatment; and III. Breast cancer and NK cells co-culture spheroid response toviolacein treatment.