Trained Immunity in Thyroid Carcinoma and Colon Carcinoma

Tumor-related inflammation is one of the hallmarks of cancers in general. Innate immunity specifically is a common denominator which is involved in the pathogenesis of both thyroid carcinoma and colon carcinoma. To improve the patient's outcome and identify novel therapeutic targets, one needs a deeper understanding of the tumor-induced changes in the bone marrow myeloid progenitor cells. Furthermore, treatment of these cells by nanoparticles or other agents that induce a program of 'trained immunity' may be a novel way to re-educate myeloid cells and their bone marrow progenitors in thyroid carcinoma patients. Lastly, the investigators expect that this approach could be effective also in other cancers of which colon carcinoma is here proposed as an additional model.

The investigators hypothesize that by exposing myeloid cells or their progenitors to various agents that induce trained immunity (e.g. high-density-lipoprotein-methylene diphosphonate nanoparticles, recombinant and synthetic cytokines), these immune cells will undergo functional reprogramming to induce a tumor-suppressive phenotype. In the future, this could be explored as a novel immunotherapy for tumors that are refractory to conventional treatment.