Wang, EdwinMahoney, DouglasNasr, Sahar2023-07-172023-07-172023-07Nasr, S. (2023). The identification of target gene to increase immunotherapy response in patients with solid tumors using experimental and computational approaches (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.https://hdl.handle.net/1880/116738https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/41580Conventional cancer therapies have limitations which can lead to high recurrence rates and reduced quality of life. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been shown to have more durable responses and fewer side effects. This makes them an alternative treatment for solid tumors like bladder cancer and MSI-high colorectal carcinoma. However, many patients do not respond to ICI or develop resistance due to factors such as the absence of CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment, dysfunctional CD8+ T cells, and impaired tumor-specific memory T cells generation. This study shows that inhibiting Sun1 enhances tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte infiltration, inhibits tumor growth in mice, and improves the response to anti-PD-1 treatment. Although the role of Sun1 in chromatin organization and gene expression regulation is not fully clear, its inhibition can upregulate the immune-related genes within the knockout cell lines. This approach suggests a potential strategy for enhancing ICI effectiveness in cancer treatment.enUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.BioinformaticsImmunotherpyCancerGenomicsBioinformaticsBiology--MolecularOncologymaster thesis