scholarly journals Systemic and intravesical adoptive cell therapy of tumor-reactive T cells can decrease bladder tumor growth in vivo

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e001673
Author(s):  
Brittany L Bunch ◽  
Jennifer Morse ◽  
Sarah Asby ◽  
Jamie Blauvelt ◽  
Ahmet M Aydin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Tumor Growth ◽  
Cellular Therapy ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Adoptive Cell Therapy ◽  
Tumor Cell Line ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
T Cell Infiltration

BackgroundThe therapeutic armamentarium of bladder cancer has been recently enriched with the introduction of new therapies including immune checkpoint inhibitors, receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors and antibody drug conjugates, however treatment responses and duration of responses are still less than expected. Adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has potential to treat bladder cancer, as previously demonstrated by successful expansion of tumor reactive T cells from human bladder tumors.MethodsA model system using OT-I T cells and an ovalbumin expressing MB49 tumor cell line (MB49OVA) was developed to study ACT in bladder cancer. Systemic ACT-treated mice were given T cells intravenously after lymphodepleting chemotherapy and followed by interleukin (IL)-2 administration. Intravesical ACT treated mice were given T cells directly into the bladder, without chemotherapy or IL-2. TILs were isolated from MB49 orthotopic tumors and expanded ex vivo in IL-2. Immune cell infiltrates were analyzed by flow cytometry. T cell infiltration was studied using a CXCR3 blocking antibody.ResultsSystemic ACT-treated mice had a decrease in tumor growth, increase in T cell infiltration and long-term immune protection compared with control-treated mice. OT-I T cells delivered intravesically were able to control tumor growth without lymphodepleting chemotherapy or IL-2 in MB49OVA orthotopic tumors. Intravesical delivery of TIL expanded from MB49 tumors was also able to decrease tumor growth in mice with MB49 orthotopic tumors. Blocking CXCR3 on OT-I T cells prior to intravesical delivery decreased T cell infiltration into the tumor and prevented the control of tumor growth.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates how TIL therapy can be used in treating different stages of bladder cancer.

scholarly journals DNA Vaccines Targeting Novel Cancer-Associated Antigens Frequently Expressed in Head and Neck Cancer Enhance the Efficacy of Checkpoint Inhibitor

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuan Wang ◽  
Nur Syafinaz Zainal ◽  
San Jiun Chai ◽  
James Dickie ◽  
Chai Phei Gan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Tumor Growth ◽  
Head And Neck ◽  
Dna Vaccines ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Tumor Control ◽  
Preclinical Model ◽  
T Cell Infiltration

HPV-independent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common cancer globally. The overall response rate to anti-PD1 checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) in HNSCC is ~16%. One major factor influencing the effectiveness of CPI is the level of tumor infiltrating T cells (TILs). Converting TILlow tumors to TILhigh tumors is thus critical to improve clinical outcome. Here we describe a novel DNA vaccines to facilitate the T-cell infiltration and control tumor growth. We evaluated the expression of target antigens and their respective immunogenicity in HNSCC patients. The efficacy of DNA vaccines targeting two novel antigens were evaluated with or without CPI using a syngeneic model. Most HNSCC patients (43/44) co-expressed MAGED4B and FJX1 and their respective tetramer-specific T cells were in the range of 0.06-0.12%. In a preclinical model, antigen-specific T cells were induced by DNA vaccines and increased T cell infiltration into the tumor, but not MDSC or regulatory T cells. The vaccines inhibited tumor growth and improved the outcome alone and upon combination with anti-PD1 and resulted in tumor clearance in approximately 75% of mice. Pre-existence of MAGED4B and FJX1-reactive T cells in HNSCC patients suggests that these widely expressed antigens are highly immunogenic and could be further expanded by vaccination. The DNA vaccines targeting these antigens induced robust T cell responses and with the anti-PD1 antibody conferring excellent tumor control. This opens up an opportunity for combination immunotherapy that might benefit a wider population of HNSCC patients in an antigen-specific manner.

T cell infiltration in matched renal biopsy (bx) and nephrectomy (nx) samples in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (6_suppl) ◽  
pp. 472-472
Author(s):  
Haris Zahoor ◽  
Paul G Pavicic ◽  
Christopher Przybycin ◽  
Paul Elson ◽  
C. Marcela Diaz-Montero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Locally Advanced ◽  
Cleveland Clinic ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Tissue Sections ◽  
T Cell Infiltration ◽  
Potential Biomarker ◽  
Pre Treatment

472 Background: T cell infiltration in tumors has been investigated as a biomarker of response to checkpoint inhibitors. A neo-adjuvant trial of checkpoint inhibition in locally-advanced RCC is ongoing at Cleveland Clinic, where T cell infiltration in pre-treatment renal mass bx will be compared to post-treatment nx specimens. However, there are no data regarding the association of T cell infiltration in matched bx and nx samples without intervening treatment. Understanding this association will enable further study of this potential biomarker in future neo-adjuvant studies. Methods: Matched bx and nx samples (without intervening systemic therapy) were identified from patients with non-metastatic RCC. Demographic and pathological data were collected from chart review. Selected tissue sections from bx and nx samples of each patient were reviewed, and marked for tumor and intra-tumoral lymphocytes by the pathologist. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was utilized to stain these selected tissue sections for T cell markers (CD3, CD4 and CD8). Intra-tumoral T cells were then quantified in the pre-marked tissue sections as counts per total tumor area surveyed, using Image-Pro Plus (Media Cybernetics, Inc.). Spearman correlation (ρ) was used to measure the strength of association of T cell infiltration between matched samples. Results: 30 matched pairs were investigated. The median interval between bx and nx was 2.8 (0.2-87.7) months. Clear cell was the most common histology (29/30; 97%). 15/30 (50%) had grade 3-4 tumors, 2/19 (11%) patients had sarcomatoid features, 7/25 (29%) had necrosis, and 8/28 (29%) had lymphovascular invasion. We found a positive correlation between the frequencies of CD8+ T cells between matched bx and nx samples (ρ= 0.39; p=0.03). CD3+ and CD4+T cells did not show significant correlation. (Table) Conclusions: Bx material can be used to accurately assess the degree of CD8+T cell infiltration in RCC. [Table: see text]

scholarly journals Poly-IC enhances the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy by promoting T cell tumor infiltration

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e001224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein Sultan ◽  
Juan Wu ◽  
Valentyna I Fesenkova ◽  
Aaron E Fan ◽  
Diane Addis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Mouse Tumor ◽  
Type I ◽  
Antitumor Effects ◽  
Cell Therapies ◽  
T Cell Infiltration

BackgroundImmunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell therapies, have revolutionized cancer treatment and resulted in complete and durable responses in some patients. Unfortunately, most immunotherapy treated patients still fail to respond. Absence of T cell infiltration to the tumor site is one of the major obstacles limiting immunotherapy efficacy against solid tumors. Thus, the development of strategies that enhance T cell infiltration and broaden the antitumor efficacy of immunotherapies is greatly needed.MethodsWe used mouse tumor models, genetically deficient mice and vascular endothelial cells (VECs) to study the requirements for T cell infiltration into tumors.ResultsA specific formulation of poly-IC, containing poly-lysine and carboxymethylcellulose (PICLC) facilitated the traffic and infiltration of effector CD8 T cells into the tumors that reduced tumor growth. Surprisingly, intratumoral injection of PICLC was significantly less effective in inducing tumor T cell infiltration and controlling growth of tumors as compared with systemic (intravenous or intramuscular) administration. Systemically administered PICLC, but not poly-IC stimulated tumor VECs via the double-stranded RNA cytoplasmic sensor MDA5, resulting in enhanced adhesion molecule expression and the production of type I interferon (IFN-I) and T cell recruiting chemokines. Expression of IFNαβ receptor in VECs was necessary to obtain the antitumor effects by PICLC and IFN-I was found to directly stimulate the secretion of T cell recruiting chemokines by VECs indicating that this cytokine-chemokine regulatory axis is crucial for recruiting effector T cells into the tumor parenchyma. Unexpectedly, these effects of PICLC were mostly observed in tumors and not in normal tissues.ConclusionsThese findings have strong implications for the improvement of all types of T cell-based immunotherapies for solid cancers. We predict that systemic administration of PICLC will improve immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, adoptive cell therapies and therapeutic cancer vaccines.

scholarly journals Reversing Epigenetic Gene Silencing to Overcome Immune Evasion in CNS Malignancies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nivedita M. Ratnam ◽  
Heather M. Sonnemann ◽  
Stephen C. Frederico ◽  
Huanwen Chen ◽  
Marsha-Kay N. D. Hutchinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Tumor Growth ◽  
Immune Evasion ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Single Agent ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Cell Trafficking ◽  
T Cell Infiltration ◽  
Dismal Prognosis

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain malignancy with a dismal prognosis. With emerging evidence to disprove brain-immune privilege, there has been much interest in examining immunotherapy strategies to treat central nervous system (CNS) cancers. Unfortunately, the limited success of clinical studies investigating immunotherapy regimens, has led to questions about the suitability of immunotherapy for these cancers. Inadequate inherent populations of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and limited trafficking of systemic, circulating T cells into the CNS likely contribute to the poor response to immunotherapy. This paucity of TILs is in concert with the finding of epigenetic silencing of genes that promote immune cell movement (chemotaxis) to the tumor. In this study we evaluated the ability of GSK126, a blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeable small molecule inhibitor of EZH2, to reverse GBM immune evasion by epigenetic suppression of T cell chemotaxis. We also evaluated the in vivo efficacy of this drug in combination with anti-PD-1 treatment on tumor growth, survival and T cell infiltration in syngeneic mouse models. GSK126 reversed H3K27me3 in murine and human GBM cell lines. When combined with anti-PD-1 treatment, a significant increase in activated T cell infiltration into the tumor was observed. This resulted in decreased tumor growth and enhanced survival both in sub-cutaneous and intracranial tumors of immunocompetent, syngeneic murine models of GBM. Additionally, a significant increase in CXCR3+ T cells was also seen in the draining lymph nodes, suggesting their readiness to migrate to the tumor. Closer examination of the mechanism of action of GSK126 revealed its ability to promote the expression of IFN-γ driven chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 from the tumor cells, that work to traffic T cells without directly affecting T maturation and/or proliferation. The loss of survival benefit either with single agent or combination in immunocompromised SCID mice, suggest that the therapeutic efficacy of GSK126 in GBM is primarily driven by lymphocytes. Taken together, our data suggests that in glioblastoma, epigenetic modulation using GSK126 could improve current immunotherapy strategies by reversing the epigenetic changes that enable immune cell evasion leading to enhanced immune cell trafficking to the tumor.

scholarly journals MRI of tumor T cell infiltration in response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e000328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Jiang ◽  
Stephanie Dudzinski ◽  
Kathryn E Beckermann ◽  
Kirsten Young ◽  
Eliot McKinley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Tumor Growth ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitor ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Response Criteria ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
T Cell Infiltration

BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors, the most widespread class of immunotherapies, have demonstrated unique response patterns that are not always adequately captured by traditional response criteria such as the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors or even immune-specific response criteria. These response metrics rely on monitoring tumor growth, but an increase in tumor size and/or appearance after starting immunotherapy does not always represent tumor progression, but also can be a result of T cell infiltration and thus positive treatment response. Therefore, non-invasive and longitudinal monitoring of T cell infiltration are needed to assess the effects of immunotherapies such as checkpoint inhibitors. Here, we proposed an innovative concept that a sufficiently large influx of tumor infiltrating T cells, which have a smaller diameter than cancer cells, will change the diameter distribution and decrease the average size of cells within a volume to a degree that can be quantified by non-invasive MRI.MethodsWe validated our hypothesis by studying tumor response to combination immune-checkpoint blockade (ICB) of anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA4 in a mouse model of colon adenocarcinoma (MC38). The response was monitored longitudinally using Imaging Microstructural Parameters Using Limited Spectrally Edited Diffusion (IMPULSED), a diffusion MRI-based method which has been previously shown to non-invasively map changes in intracellular structure and cell sizes with the spatial resolution of MRI, in cell cultures and in animal models. Tumors were collected for immunohistochemical and flow cytometry analyzes immediately after the last imaging session.ResultsImmunohistochemical analysis revealed that increased T cell infiltration of the tumors results in a decrease in mean cell size (eg, a 10% increase of CD3+ T cell fraction results a ~1 µm decrease in the mean cell size). IMPULSED showed that the ICB responders, mice with tumor volumes were less than 250 mm3 or had tumors with stable or decreased volumes, had significantly smaller mean cell sizes than both Control IgG-treated tumors and ICB non-responder tumors.ConclusionsIMPULSED-derived cell size could potentially serve as an imaging marker for differentiating responsive and non-responsive tumors after checkpoint inhibitor therapies, a current clinical challenge that is not solved by simply monitoring tumor growth.

scholarly journals 49 In situ phenotypic analysis of T cells in the tumor microenvironment of a pre-clinical model of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by tissue sectioning and whole-mount immunofluorescence imaging

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A52-A52
Author(s):  
Elen Torres ◽  
Stefani Spranger
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Cell Populations ◽  
Tumor Bearing ◽  
T Cell Infiltration ◽  
Volume Imaging ◽  
Whole Mount

BackgroundUnderstanding the interactions between tumor and immune cells is critical for improving current immunotherapies. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence has shown that failed T cell infiltration into lung cancer lesions might be associated with low responsiveness towards checkpoint blockade.1 For this reason, it is necessary to characterize not only the phenotype of T cells in tumor-bearing lungs but also their spatial location in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Multiplex immunofluorescence staining allows the simultaneous use of several cell markers to study the state and the spatial location of cell populations in the tissue of interest. Although this technique is usually applied to thin tissue sections (5 to 12 µm), the analysis of large tissue volumes may provide a better understanding of the spatial distribution of cells in relation to the TME. Here, we analyzed the number and spatial distribution of cytotoxic T cells and other immune cells in the TME of tumor-bearing lungs, using both 12 µm sections and whole-mount preparations imaged by confocal microscopy.MethodsLung tumors were induced in C57BL/6 mice by tail vein injection of a cancer cell line derived from KrasG12D/+ and Tp53-/- mice. Lung tissue with a diverse degree of T cell infiltration was collected after 21 days post tumor induction. Tissue was fixed in 4% PFA, followed by snap-frozen for sectioning. Whole-mount preparations were processed according to Weizhe Li et al. (2019) 2 for tissue clearing and multiplex volume imaging. T cells were labeled with CD8 and FOXP3 antibodies to identify cytotoxic or regulatory T cells, respectively. Tumor cells were labeled with a pan-Keratin antibody. Images were acquired using a Leica SP8 confocal microscope. FIJI3 and IMARIS were used for image processing.ResultsWe identified both cytotoxic and regulatory T cell populations in the TME using thin sections and whole-mount. However, using whole-mount after tissue clearing allowed us to better evaluate the spatial distribution of the T cell populations in relation to the tumor structure. Furthermore, tissue clearance facilitates the imaging of larger volumes using multiplex immunofluorescence.ConclusionsAnalysis of large lung tissue volumes provides a better understanding of the location of immune cell populations in relation to the TME and allows to study heterogeneous immune infiltration on a per-lesion base. This valuable information will improve the characterization of the TME and the definition of cancer-immune phenotypes in NSCLC.ReferencesTeng MW, et al., Classifying cancers based on T-cell infiltration and PD-L1. Cancer Res 2015;75(11): p. 2139–45.Li W, Germain RN, and Gerner MY. High-dimensional cell-level analysis of tissues with Ce3D multiplex volume imaging. Nat Protoc 2019;14(6): p. 1708–1733.Schindelin J, et al, Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis. Nat Methods 2012;9(7): p. 676–82.

scholarly journals BTK Inhibition Reverses MDSC-Mediated Immunosuppression and Enhances Response to Anti-PDL1 Therapy in Neuroblastoma

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 817
Author(s):  
Mehreen Ishfaq ◽  
Timothy Pham ◽  
Cooper Beaman ◽  
Pablo Tamayo ◽  
Alice L. Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Tumor Growth ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
No Production ◽  
Free Survival ◽  
T Cell Infiltration ◽  
Car T ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy

MDSCs are immune cells of myeloid lineage that plays a key role in promoting tumor growth. The expansion of MDSCs in tumor-bearing hosts reduces the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapies, and hence strategies that deplete or block the recruitment of MDSCs have shown benefit in improving responses to immunotherapy in various cancers, including NB. Ibrutinib, an irreversible molecular inhibitor of BTK, has been widely studied in B cell malignancies, and recently, this drug is repurposed for the treatment of solid tumors. Herein we report that BTK is highly expressed in both granulocytic and monocytic murine MDSCs isolated from mice bearing NB tumors, and its increased expression correlates with a poor relapse-free survival probability of NB patients. Moreover, in vitro treatment of murine MDSCs with ibrutinib altered NO production, decreased mRNA expression of Ido, Arg, Tgfβ, and displayed defects in T-cell suppression. Consistent with these findings, in vivo inhibition of BTK with ibrutinib resulted in reduced MDSC-mediated immune suppression, increased CD8+ T cell infiltration, decreased tumor growth, and improved response to anti-PDL1 checkpoint inhibitor therapy in a murine model of NB. These results demonstrate that ibrutinib modulates immunosuppressive functions of MDSC and can be used either alone or in combination with immunotherapy for augmenting antitumor immune responses in NB.

scholarly journals Risk Signature Related to Immunotherapy Reaction of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on the Immune-Related Genes Associated With CD8+ T Cell Infiltration

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiping Zou ◽  
Zhihong Chen ◽  
Hongwei Han ◽  
Shiye Ruan ◽  
Liang Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Risk Group ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
T Cell Infiltration ◽  
Immune Related Genes

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common histological type of liver cancer, with an unsatisfactory long-term survival rate. Despite immune checkpoint inhibitors for HCC have got glories in recent clinical trials, the relatively low response rate is still a thorny problem. Therefore, there is an urgent need to screen biomarkers of HCC to predict the prognosis and efficacy of immunotherapy.Methods: Gene expression profiles of HCC were retrieved from TCGA, GEO, and ICGC databases while the immune-related genes (IRGs) were retrieved from the ImmPort database. CIBERSORT and WGCNA algorithms were combined to identify the gene module most related to CD8+ T cells in the GEO cohort. Subsequently, the genes in hub modules were subjected to univariate, LASSO, and multivariate Cox regression analyses in the TCGA cohort to develop a risk signature. Afterward, the accuracy of the risk signature was validated by the ICGC cohort, and its relationships with CD8+ T cell infiltration and PDL1 expression were explored.Results: Nine IRGs were finally incorporated into a risk signature. Patients in the high-risk group had a poorer prognosis than those in the low-risk group. Confirmed by TCGA and ICGC cohorts, the risk signature possessed a relatively high accuracy. Additionally, the risk signature was demonstrated as an independent prognostic factor and closely related to the CD8+ T cell infiltration and PDL1 expression.Conclusion: A risk signature was constructed to predict the prognosis of HCC patients and detect patients who may have a higher positive response rate to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

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