Dr. Suarez Mora on sequential sampling of the IP fluid during chemotherapy

Adria Suarez Mora, MD, a second-year researcher at the UPMC Magee-Womens hospital, explains how sequential sampling of intraperitoneal fluid (IP) during chemotherapy helps to better define the immunogenic effects of treatment.

IP chemotherapy affects and gives direct access to the tumor microenvironment, explains Suarez Mora, and biomarkers are detectable in the IP fluid. In a recent study, Suarez Mora and colleagues hypothesized that, through sequential sampling of the IP fluid, the changes induced by treatment in the immune microenvironment of the tumor could be better defined.

According to Suarez Mora, what makes the study so novel is that they were able to obtain a better sample of the microenvironment of the tumor than by blood or tumor tissue. The purpose of the study was to attempt to capture some of the immune-specific microenvironmental changes that rely on surrogate markers, such as peripheral blood or lymphocytes in the peripheral blood, he explains. -she.

An IP catheter provides a unique way to sample the microenvironment to more effectively identify dynamic changes in immune function during chemotherapy. This information could not be obtained previously through a tumor biopsy or peripheral blood.

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