Most of the engineering research I write about is funded by a handful of federal agencies, primarily the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, NASA (especially lately) and occasionally an NIH institute or a military research office, such as DARPA or the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. All of these agencies generally have the same broad mission – to foster research that will protect or somehow improve the way we live. Or, at the very least, make things less expensive or more efficient.

Compared to the healthy spleen on the right, the spleen on the left, taken from a tumor-bearing mouse, is larger because it teems with a specific type of immunosuppressive immune cell known as the myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). As the name suggests, these cells suppress the body’s immune system. When the researchers analyzed the spleens, they found approximately 70 percent of the spleens from the tumor-bearing mice consisted of myeloid derived suppressor cells. Even after surgical removal of the primary tumor, immunosuppression exists, often resulting in recurrence of the tumor. Working with a powerful cytokine, the researchers are developing a strategy to reverse immunosuppression following tumor resection. Their goal is to reduce breast cancer recurrence rates.

Compared to the healthy spleen on the right, the spleen on the left, taken from a tumor-bearing mouse, is larger because it teems with a specific type of immunosuppressive immune cell known as the myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). As the name suggests, these cells suppress the body’s immune system. When the researchers analyzed the spleens, they found approximately 70 percent of the spleens from the tumor-bearing mice consisted of myeloid derived suppressor cells. Even after surgical removal of the primary tumor, immunosuppression exists, often resulting in recurrence of the tumor. Working with a powerful cytokine, the researchers are developing a strategy to reverse immunosuppression following tumor resection. Their goal is to reduce breast cancer recurrence rates.

I recently learned about a new source of funding, which – to steal the words of David Zaharoff, one of our star researchers – is “finding its way to Fayetteville more frequently.” Last month, Zaharoff, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and director of the College of Engineering’s Laboratory of Vaccine and Immunotherapy Delivery, was informed that he will receive a $73,893 grant from the Arkansas Breast Cancer Research Program. (This is actually a small trend; the grant is the third of its type for Zaharoff and the engineering college has received at least one other similar grant.)

Administered by University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the grant was made possible by a tax on cigarette and tobacco products sold in Arkansas. The tax is a result of Act 1698, passed by the Arkansas General Assembly in 2001.

“I think the citizens of Arkansas would be appreciative that this money is finding its way back into research,” Zaharoff said.

The grant will support the dissertation work of Sruthi Ravindranathan, Zaharoff’s doctoral student. Ravindranathan builds on her mentor’s discovery and extensive work with Interleukin 12 (IL-12), a cytokine that stimulates the body’s immune system to attack a range of cancerous tumors.

(Years ago, as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute, Zaharoff combined IL-12 with chitosan, a polysaccharide derived from the shells of crustaceans. This co-formulation provided a method of delivering the cytokine directly to a tumor while avoiding systemic toxicity. A 2009 study demonstrated the power of chitosan/IL-12 when experiments eradicated bladder tumors in mice.)

Ravindranathan is studying the effect of IL-12 on cells that suppress the body’s immune system following breast tumor resection (mastectomy or lumpectomy). The goal of the project is to develop an adjuvant strategy to reverse immunosuppression and consequently reduce breast cancer recurrence rates. The therapy could also eliminate the need for lymph node resection, which would reduce complications associated with lymphedema, a common effect following removal of lymph nodes.

Learn more about Zaharoff’s research and lab.