# Immunomodulation of the Tumor Microenvironment with Molecular Targeted Radiotherapy to Facilitate an Adaptive Anti-Tumor Immune Response to Combined Modality Immunotherapies

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2022 · $165,219

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
 This application is being submitted in response to the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) identified as NOT-
CA-21-083. In our Cancer Moonshot IOTN U01 award, we are developing a combined modality therapeutic
approach to eradicating metastatic cancers that are immunologically “cold” and do not respond to immune
checkpoint inhibition (ICI). To advance the objectives of that award and to broadly define the radiosensitivity
and immuno-radiobiology of immune cell lineages, we will use advanced immune assays to determine the
effects of radiation dose, dose rate, and fractionation on the survival and phenotype of immune cell lineages
from blood, bone marrow, and tumor infiltrating immune cells. We hypothesize that diverse immunologic effects
of radiation will have distinct dose-response profiles, such that no single dose of radiotherapy can be defined
as “optimal” but rather that a heterogeneous dose of radiation will be best able to activate a potent anti-tumor
immune response by optimally engaging distinct mechanisms within a single tumor microenvironment. The
insights and treatment regimens developed in these studies should enable more effective clinical
translation of therapeutic approaches that combine radiation and immunotherapies in patients with
metastatic cancer.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10459937
- **Project number:** 3U01CA233102-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Zachary Scott Morris
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $165,219
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-09-18 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10459937

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10459937, Immunomodulation of the Tumor Microenvironment with Molecular Targeted Radiotherapy to Facilitate an Adaptive Anti-Tumor Immune Response to Combined Modality Immunotherapies (3U01CA233102-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10459937. Licensed CC0.

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