Neutrophil-fibroblast interactions – how do they alter the tumour microenvironment and influence disease progression in non-small cell lung cancer? (360G-Wellcome-342256_Z_25_Z)

In cancer, there is an ecosystem of cells and other factors around the tumour cells, known as the tumour microenvironment. Non-cancerous cells in the tumour microenvironment include neutrophils, a common type of immune cell, and fibroblasts, which provide the environment for cells to live in. Such non- cancerous cells interact with cancer cells and can affect cancer progression, but the exact effect of each cell type is not fully understood. I will investigate changes which occur in neutrophils and fibroblasts when they enter the tumour microenvironment. I will focus on the thousands of proteins found in these cells and look at changes to protein production and exchange. I will do this by isolating these cells and growing them with and without cancer cells to determine how their proteins change in different conditions which will reflect the tumour microenvironment. I am particularly interested in looking at a group of neutrophils that might help create an ‘anti-cancer’ environment to see if I can find ways to help create more of these cells. I will test these within established cancer tissue databases to see how the presence and behaviour of these ‘anti-cancer’ neutrophils relates to growth and spread of lung cancers.