Surface engineering of oncolytic adenovirus for combinations of immune checkpoint blockade and virotherapy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Lv ◽  
Xiaomei Chen ◽  
Shiying Fu ◽  
En Ren ◽  
Chao Liu ◽  
...  

Advances in the development of modern cancer immunotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors have dramatically changed the landscape of cancer treatment. However, most cancer patients are refractory to immune checkpoint inhibitors...


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remy Thomas ◽  
Ghaneya Al-Khadairi ◽  
Julie Decock

Immunotherapy has emerged as the fifth pillar of cancer treatment alongside surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are the current superheroes of immunotherapy, unleashing a patient’s own immune cells to kill tumors and revolutionizing cancer treatment in a variety of cancers. Although breast cancer was historically believed to be immunologically silent, treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors has been shown to induce modest responses in metastatic breast cancer. Given the inherent heterogeneity of breast tumors, this raised the question whether certain breast tumors might benefit more from immune-based interventions and which cancer cell-intrinsic and/or microenvironmental factors define the likelihood of inducing a potent and durable anti-tumor immune response. In this review, we will focus on triple negative breast cancer as immunogenic breast cancer subtype, and specifically discuss the relevance of tumor mutational burden, the plethora and diversity of tumor infiltrating immune cells in addition to the immunoscore, the presence of immune checkpoint expression, and the microbiome in defining immune checkpoint blockade response. We will highlight the current immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment options, either as monotherapy or in combination with standard-of-care treatment modalities such as chemotherapy and targeted therapy. In addition, we will look into the potential of immunotherapy-based combination strategies using immune checkpoint inhibitors to enhance both innate and adaptive immune responses, or to establish a more immune favorable environment for cancer vaccines. Finally, the review will address the need for unambiguous predictive biomarkers as one of the main challenges of immune checkpoint blockade. To conclude, the potential of immune checkpoint blockade for triple negative breast cancer treatment could be enhanced by exploration of aforementioned factors and treatment strategies thereby providing promising future prospects.



2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e001460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuting Liu ◽  
Graham D Hogg ◽  
David G DeNardo

The clinical success of immune checkpoint inhibitors has highlighted the central role of the immune system in cancer control. Immune checkpoint inhibitors can reinvigorate anti-cancer immunity and are now the standard of care in a number of malignancies. However, research on immune checkpoint blockade has largely been framed with the central dogma that checkpoint therapies intrinsically target the T cell, triggering the tumoricidal potential of the adaptive immune system. Although T cells undoubtedly remain a critical piece of the story, mounting evidence, reviewed herein, indicates that much of the efficacy of checkpoint therapies may be attributable to the innate immune system. Emerging research suggests that T cell-directed checkpoint antibodies such as anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) can impact innate immunity by both direct and indirect pathways, which may ultimately shape clinical efficacy. However, the mechanisms and impacts of these activities have yet to be fully elucidated, and checkpoint therapies have potentially beneficial and detrimental effects on innate antitumor immunity. Further research into the role of innate subsets during checkpoint blockade may be critical for developing combination therapies to help overcome checkpoint resistance. The potential of checkpoint therapies to amplify innate antitumor immunity represents a promising new field that can be translated into innovative immunotherapies for patients fighting refractory malignancies.



Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edoardo Giannini ◽  
Andrea Aglitti ◽  
Mauro Borzio ◽  
Martina Gambato ◽  
Maria Guarino ◽  
...  

Despite progress in our understanding of the biology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), this tumour remains difficult-to-cure for several reasons, starting from the particular disease environment where it arises—advanced chronic liver disease—to its heterogeneous clinical and biological behaviour. The advent, and good results, of immunotherapy for cancer called for the evaluation of its potential application also in HCC, where there is evidence of intra-hepatic immune response activation. Several studies advanced our knowledge of immune checkpoints expression in HCC, thus suggesting that immune checkpoint blockade may have a strong rationale even in the treatment of HCC. According to this background, initial studies with tremelimumab, a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor, and nivolumab, a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody, showed promising results, and further studies exploring the effects of other immune checkpoint inhibitors, alone or with other drugs, are currently underway. However, we are still far from the identification of the correct setting, and sequence, where these drugs might be used in clinical practice, and their actual applicability in real-life is unknown. This review focuses on HCC immunobiology and on the potential of immune checkpoint blockade therapy for this tumour, with a critical evaluation of the available trials on immune checkpoint blocking antibodies treatment for HCC. Moreover, it assesses the potential applicability of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the real-life setting, by analysing a large, multicentre cohort of Italian patients with HCC.



2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5_suppl) ◽  
pp. 84-84
Author(s):  
Kushal Naha ◽  
Lakshmi Manogna Chintalacheruvu ◽  
Donald C. Doll ◽  
Sowjanya Naha

84 Background: Immune checkpoint blockade is known to be associated with various dermatologic adverse events. However, these adverse effects have not been studied in a systematic manner. This is especially relevant considering the rapidly increasing number of immune checkpoint inhibitors that are now available. Methods: We searched for eligible studies in PubMed and Google scholar. We reviewed randomized controlled trials involving cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors - PD1 inhibitors, PDL1 inhibitors and CTLA4 inhibitors and for dermatologic adverse effects. A total of 47 randomized controlled trials involving 11875 patients met eligibility criteria for our study. Results: Incidence rate of all grade dermatologic adverse effects was 40.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 39.4-41.7%). Most common adverse effects included pruritus (17.3%) (95% confidence interval [CI] 16.6-18.1%), undifferentiated rash (15.1%) (95% confidence interval [CI] 14.4-15.9%), vitiligo (3.6%) (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.2-3.9%), maculopapular rash (2.3%) (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.1-2.6%), stomatitis (0.7%) (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55-0.92%) and dry skin (0.7%) (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.5-0.8%). Less common adverse events include palmoplantar erythrodysesthesia, pemphigoid skin reactions, lichen planus and hyperhidrosis. Grade 3 and higher adverse effects were seen in 1.3% of patients (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-1.6%). Conclusions: A wide range of dermatologic adverse effects can be seen with immune checkpoint blockade. While the majority of these events are of grade 1-2, they can occasionally be severe and even life threatening. Patients receiving immune checkpoint blockade should be closely monitored for dermatologic adverse effects.



2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e14078-e14078
Author(s):  
Qun Zhang ◽  
Lei Cheng ◽  
Jing Hu ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Mi Yang ◽  
...  

e14078 Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors have brought great breakthroughs in cancer therapy. Activated immune response is known to be the prerequisite for exerting immunotherapy efficacy. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is associated with longer survival in gastric cancer (GC) patients due to enhanced anti-tumor immune response, and therefore it was reportedly played an important role in modulating immune checkpoint blockade therapy efficacy. However, molecular dimensions underlying the good response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in presence of EBV infection are still unclear. The aim of this study is to identify a gene signature related to EBV induced anti-tumor immune response, and select a tag gene from this signature to predict which patients are most likely to benefit from immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Methods: Two large transcriptome datasets from Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO) database (GSE51575 and GSE62254) were used to screen gene signature for EBV infected gastric cancer tissues. We further selected genes that showed a trend towards differential co-expression independent of EBV infection status. The tag gene of this differential co-expression signature was finally identified by bioinformatics analysis. To make an external validation, we performed RNA sequencing in 20 colorectal caner (CRC) tissues and 20 GC tissues, respectively. Meanwhile, tissue microarrays of CRC cohort (36 paired tumor and normal tissues) and GC cohort (75 paired tumor and normal tissues) were used to analyze the association of SLAMF8 with CD8 protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: Analysis of GEO datasets indicated 788 genes as feature gene cluster for EBV-positive gastric cancer, from which 290 genes were selected to be characterized by differential co-expression in either EBV-positive or EBV-negative gastric cancers. SLAMF8 was identified as the tag gene for this differential co-expression signature. This signature, tagged by SLAMF8, was successfully validated by our RNA sequencing data in presence of its good performance in dividing CRC and GC patients into two subsets. Moreover, we observed a significant association between SLAMF8 and CD8 expression in our CRC and GC tissue samples, in terms of either mRNA or protein level. Conclusions: SLAMF8, a potential indicator for T cell‐mediated immune response induced by EBV infection, may be served as a biomarker for individualized immune checkpoint blockade therapy in gastrointestinal cancer. Further SLAMF8 guided drug sensitivity tests are warranted to validate our results.



2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 618-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoshi Nishida ◽  
Masatoshi Kudo

With the development of molecular targeting therapy, several treatment options for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have become available in cases where curative and other palliative treatments, such as radiofrequency ablation, surgical resection, and transarterial chemoembolization, are not applicable. However, with the detection of a variety of mutations in cancer-related genes in a single tumor, molecular heterogeneity is commonly observed in HCC. Therefore, mutations in the major cellular signaling pathways underlie the development of resistance to molecular targeting agents. On the contrary, immune checkpoint inhibitors have proven effective in patients who are refractory to conventional treatments and molecular targeting therapy. Several clinical trials are currently investigating the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors both individually and in combination with other types of anticancer agents. In this review, we focus on the potential of immune checkpoint blockade in the treatment of human HCC.





Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koichi Saruwatari ◽  
Ryo Sato ◽  
Shunya Nakane ◽  
Shinya Sakata ◽  
Koutaro Takamatsu ◽  
...  

Background: Anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibodies (Abs) unleash an immune response to cancer. However, a disruption of the immune checkpoint function by blocking PD-1/PD-ligand 1(PD-L1) signaling may trigger myasthenia gravis (MG) as a life-threatening immune-related adverse event. MG is a neuromuscular disease and is closely associated with being positive for anti-acetylcholine receptor (anti-AChR) Abs, which are high specific and diagnostic Abs for MG. Methods: A 72-year-old man was diagnosed with chemotherapy-refractory lung squamous cell carcinoma and nivolumab was selected as the third-line regimen. We describe the first report of an anti-AChR Ab-seropositive lung cancer patient achieving a durable complete response (CR) to an anti-PD-1 antibody therapy. To further explore this case, we performed multiplex immunofluorescence analysis on a pretreatment tumor. Results: The patient achieved a durable CR without developing MG. However, the levels of anti-AChR Abs were elevated during two years of anti-PD-1 antibody therapy. The tumor of the subclinical MG patient had high PD-L1 expression and an infiltrated–inflamed tumor immune microenvironment. Conclusions: This study suggests that immune checkpoint inhibitors can be safely used and provide the benefits for advanced cancer patients with immunologically ‘hot’ tumor even if anti-AChR Abs are positive. Although careful monitoring clinical manifestation in consultation with neurologist is needed, immune checkpoint inhibitors should be considered as a treatment option for asymptomatic anti-AChR Ab-seropositive cancer patients.



Author(s):  
Allan Relecom ◽  
Maysaloun Merhi ◽  
Varghese Inchakalody ◽  
Shahab Uddin ◽  
Darawan Rinchai ◽  
...  

AbstractImmune checkpoint inhibitors provide considerable therapeutic benefit in a range of solid cancers as well as in a subgroup of hematological malignancies. Response rates are however suboptimal, and despite considerable efforts, predicting response to immune checkpoint inhibitors ahead of their administration in a given patient remains elusive. The study of the dynamics of the immune system and of the tumor under immune checkpoint blockade brought insight into the mechanisms of action of these therapeutic agents. Equally relevant are the mechanisms of adaptive resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors that have been uncovered through this approach. In this review, we discuss the dynamics of the immune system and of the tumor under immune checkpoint blockade emanating from recent studies on animal models and humans. We will focus on mechanisms of action and of resistance conveying information predictive of therapeutic response.



Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1188
Author(s):  
I-Tsu Chyuan ◽  
Ching-Liang Chu ◽  
Ping-Ning Hsu

Immune checkpoints play critical roles in the regulation of T-cell effector function, and the effectiveness of their inhibitors in cancer therapy has been established. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) constitute a paradigm shift in cancer therapy in general and cancer immunotherapy in particular. Immunotherapy has been indicated to reinvigorate antitumor T-cell activity and dynamically modulate anticancer immune responses. However, despite the promising results in the use of immunotherapy in some cancers, numerous patients do not respond to ICIs without the existence of a clear predictive biomarker. Overall, immunotherapy involves a certain degree of uncertainty and complexity. Research on the exploration of cellular and molecular factors within the tumor microenvironment (TME) aims to identify possible mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance, as well as to develop novel combination strategies involving the specific targeting of the TME for cancer immunotherapy. The combination of this approach with other types of treatment, including immune checkpoint blockade therapy involving multiple agents, most of the responses and effects in cancer therapy could be significantly enhanced, but the appropriate combinations have yet to be established. Moreover, the in-depth exploration of complexity within the TME allows for the exploration of pathways of immune dysfunction. It may also aid in the identification of new therapeutic targets. This paper reviews recent advances in the improvement of therapeutic efficacy on the immune context of the TME and highlights its contribution to cancer immunotherapy.



Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document