Functionalised nanoparticles transforming adenoid cystic carcinoma into an immune hot tumour

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC) is an immune "cold" tumour. To date, immunotherapy could not result in appreciable treatment outcome. So far, apoptosis has been found to tune tumour immunity based on the demonstration of apoptosis of immune cells (T effector cells), that undermines the anti-tumour reactivity of immune cells in the tumour microenvironment. This eventually facilitates growth of T regulatory cells, M2 macrophage, and myeloid derived suppressor cells. Our preliminary data (unpublished) suggest significantly low expression of Annexin A3 (ANXA3) in ACC compared to other salivary gland cancer. Additionally, upon RNA-seq analysis of transcriptomic data for ACC and normal salivary tissue samples, we found Annexin A3 (ANXA3) downregulated in ACC samples compared to its normal counterpart. These results are in accordance with the previous findings that suggest high expression of ANXA3 promotes immune infiltration and improves tumour prognosis. We, therefore, hypothesise that overexpression of Annexin A3 will convert ACC into an immune hot tumour. We will use nanoparticles to deliver ANXA3 into ACC cells and determine immune cell infiltration.