# Melanoma immunotherapy targeting sentinel lymph nodes

> **NIH NIH R01** · GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2020 · $359,568

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Melanoma is a skin cancer that accounts for only 4% of cases but 80% of deaths; in 2014 alone it
resulted in approximately 10,000 deaths in the United States. Spontaneous development of anti-tumor
immunity is associated with improved clinical outcome, indicating the potential for immunotherapy to
increase melanoma patient survival. Anti-tumor immune responses are initiated and regulated within
sentinel (tumor-draining) lymph nodes (TDLN), but are often inefficient as the result of local immune
suppressive signaling. TDLN-directed tumor immune suppression therefore represents a critical hurdle
in effective melanoma immunotherapy. Therefore, there is a significant and unmet need for
technologies that increase the delivery of immunomodulatory agents to TDLN-resident immune cells
improve the treatment of melanoma. The objective of this R01 project is to develop and validate a
sentinel lymph node drug delivery technology to improve immunotherapeutic drug bioactivity within
melanoma TDLN. This will be tested in a rigorous preclinical inducible model of BRAF mutated
melanoma, which occurs in 50% of human melanomas. Three aims are proposed:
Aim 1: Measure specificity of drug accumulation in TDLN versus systemic tissues resulting from LN-
versus non-targeted immunotherapy.
Aim 2: Delineate the immune modulatory effect of LN- versus non-targeted immunotherapy in the
BRAFv600E melanoma model.
Aim 3: Evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of LN- versus non-targeted immunotherapy alone versus in
combination with BRAFv600E inhibition on disease progression and animal survival in the BRAFv600E
melanoma model.
 This project is expected to yield several outcomes. First, these studies will define parameters for
enhancing the efficacy of melanoma immunotherapy via LN drug targeting. Second, the potential for
TDLN-targeted immunotherapy to improve the efficacy of BRAFv600E inhibition in the treatment of
advanced melanomas will be established. Therapeutic agents already in human clinical testing or
approved for human use will be investigated in this work to ensure the highest potential for rapid clinical
translation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9949654
- **Project number:** 5R01CA207619-05
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** Susan Napier Thomas
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $359,568
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9949654

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9949654, Melanoma immunotherapy targeting sentinel lymph nodes (5R01CA207619-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9949654. Licensed CC0.

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