scholarly journals 960 Randomized multicenter study of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) alone or in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A1010-A1010
Author(s):  
Osama Rahma ◽  
Mathew Katz ◽  
Todd Bauer ◽  
Brian Wolpin ◽  
Chee-Chee Stucky ◽  
...  

BackgroundPancreatic cancer (PC) is a challenging target for immunotherapy due to its immune-suppressive microenvironment. Neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) can increase the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). We hypothesized that the combination of CRT and pembrolizumab can further expand and activate TILs.MethodsPatients with resectable or borderline resectable PC were randomized 2:1 to the investigational treatment (Arm A) of pembrolizumab 200mg IV every 3 weeks concurrently with CRT (capecitabine 825 mg/m2 orally twice daily and radiation 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions over 28 days) or CRT only (Arm B) prior to surgical resection. The primary endpoints were safety and difference in TILs density between Arm A and B assessed using multiplexed immunofluorescence on resected tumor specimens. As a correlate analysis, single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed to quantify gene expression in T cells from tumors and peripheral blood, and to track expanded T cell clonotypes in these compartments (n=4 patients Arm A; n=3 patients Arm B). The study was amended after enrollment of 37 patients to allow FOLFIRINOX prior to CRT, given changes in standard of care.Results37 patients were enrolled (24 Arm A, 13 Arm B). After neoadjuvant therapy, 13 patients had unresectable disease (9 on A, 4 on B), and 24 patients underwent surgery and were evaluable for the TILs primary endpoint (17 arm A, 7 arm B). The mean difference (A-B) in CD8+ T cell density was 36 cells/mm2 (95% CI -85 to 157, stdev 130) (p 0.48). Additional analysis did not show significant differences in activated cytotoxic T cells, regulatory T cells, M1- or M2-like polarized macrophages, or granulocytes. The median recurrence free survival (RFS) was 18.2 months on Arm A and 14.1 on Arm B (p 0.41). Overall survival was 27.8 months on Arm A and 24.3 on Arm B (p 0.68) with a median follow up of 2.2 years. The most common grade 3 treatment-related toxicities were lymphopenia reported in 29% on Arm A and 31% on Arm B, respectively followed by diarrhea in 8% on Arm A attributed to CRT. scRNA-seq revealed clonal expansion and expression of co-inhibitory markers among TIL subsets.ConclusionsThe combination of CRT and pembrolizumab is safe. Preliminary analysis shows that the addition of pembrolizumab to CRT has minimal effects on intratumoral densities of TILs and other immune cell populations. Single cell transcriptome analyses enable in-depth characterization of the functional responses of T cells to pembrolizumab in the setting of CRT.AcknowledgementsThis study was funded by MerckTrial RegistrationNCT02305186Ethics ApprovalThe study was conducted at 6 sites: University of Virginia, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Mayo Clinic, Hartford Healthcare Cancer Center, and University of Miami. Written informed consent was provided by the study participants and the protocol was approved by the relevant local IRBs in each site.

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 4128-4128
Author(s):  
Osama E. Rahma ◽  
Matthew H. G. Katz ◽  
Brian M. Wolpin ◽  
Andressa Dias-Costa ◽  
Jonathan Nowak ◽  
...  

4128 Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a challenging target for immunotherapy due to suppressive immune-microenvironment. Neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) can increase the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). We hypothesized that the combination of CRT and pembrolizumab can lead to further increase in TILs and their activation. Methods: Patients with resectable or borderline resectable PC were randomized 2:1 to the investigational treatment (Arm A) of pembrolizumab 200mg IV every 3 weeks concurrently with CRT (capecitabine 825 mg/m2 orally twice daily and radiation 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions over 28 days) or CRT only (Arm B) prior to surgical resection. The primary endpoints were treatment safety and density of TILs with the objective to estimate differences in TILs density between the investigational and the control arms. Immune cell densities were assessed using multiplexed immunofluorescence on resected tumor specimens. Densities of CD8+TILs were measured in 2-10 representative regions containing residual cancer per case and then averaged to obtain overall densities. The study was amended after enrollment of 37 patients to allow FOLFIRINOX prior to CRT, given changes in standard of care. Results: 37 patients were enrolled (24 Arm A and 13 Arm B). Post-neoadjuvant therapy, 13 patients had unresectable disease (9 on A and 4 on B), and 24 patients underwent surgery and were evaluable for the TILs primary endpoint (17 arm A and 7 arm B). The mean difference (A-B) in CD8+ cell density was 36 cells/mm2 (95% CI -85 to 157, stdev 130) (p 0.48). Additional analysis did not show significant differences in CD8+Ki67+ (activated cytotoxic T-cells), CD4+, and CD4+FOXP3+ (regulatory T cells), M1- or M2-like polarized macrophages, or granulocytes. The median recurrence free survival (RFS) was 18.2 months on Arm A and 14.1 on Arm B (p 0.41) and Overall Survival was 27.8 months on Arm A and 24.3 on Arm B (p 0.68) with a median follow up of 2.2 years. The most common grade 3 treatment-related toxicities were lymphopenia reported in 29% on Arm A and 31% on Arm B followed by diarrhea in 8% on Arm A attributed to CRT. There was only 1 DLT of increased ALT attributed to the combination on Arm A that resolved after holding the treatment and receiving steroids. There were no major surgical complications reported within 30 days post-surgery. Conclusions: The combination of CRT and pembrolizumab is safe. Preliminary analysis shows that the addition of pembrolizumab to CRT has minimal effects on several immune cell populations including CD8+TILs in the PC microenvironment. The study is currently enrolling 25 more patients who receive FOLFIRINOX prior to randomization to CRT+/- Pembrolizumab, which will help to dissect the immune modulatory effect of chemotherapy followed by CRT. Clinical trial information: NCT02305186.


Blood ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 32-33
Author(s):  
Tomohiro Aoki ◽  
Lauren C. Chong ◽  
Katsuyoshi Takata ◽  
Katy Milne ◽  
Elizabeth Chavez ◽  
...  

Introduction: Classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL) features a unique crosstalk between malignant cells and different types of normal immune cells in the tumor-microenvironment (TME). On the basis of histomorphologic and immunophenotypic features of the malignant Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells and infiltrating immune cells, four histological subtypes of CHL are recognized: Nodular sclerosing (NS), Mixed cellularity, Lymphocyte-rich (LR) and Lymphocyte-depleted CHL. Recently, our group described the high abundance of various types of immunosuppressive CD4+ T cells including LAG3+ and/or CTLA4+ cells in the TME of CHL using single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq). However, the TME of LR-CHL has not been well characterized due to the rarity of the disease. In this study, we aimed at characterizing the immune cell profile of LR-CHL at single cell resolution. METHODS: We performed scRNAseq on cell suspensions collected from lymph nodes of 28 primary CHL patients, including 11 NS, 9 MC and 8 LR samples, with 5 reactive lymph nodes (RLN) serving as normal controls. We merged the expression data from all cells (CHL and RLN) and performed batch correction and normalization. We also performed single- and multi-color immunohistochemistry (IHC) on tissue microarray (TMA) slides from the same patients. In addition, an independent validation cohort of 31 pre-treatment LR-CHL samples assembled on a TMA, were also evaluated by IHC. Results: A total of 23 phenotypic cell clusters were identified using unsupervised clustering (PhenoGraph). We assigned each cluster to a cell type based on the expression of genes described in published transcriptome data of sorted immune cells and known canonical markers. While most immune cell phenotypes were present in all pathological subtypes, we observed a lower abundance of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in LR-CHL in comparison to the other CHL subtypes. Conversely, we found that B cells were enriched in LR-CHL when compared to the other subtypes and specifically, all four naïve B-cell clusters were quantitatively dominated by cells derived from the LR-CHL samples. T follicular helper (TFH) cells support antibody response and differentiation of B cells. Our data show the preferential enrichment of TFH in LR-CHL as compared to other CHL subtypes, but TFH cells were still less frequent compared to RLN. Of note, Chemokine C-X-C motif ligand 13 (CXCL13) was identified as the most up-regulated gene in LR compared to RLN. CXCL13, which is a ligand of C-X-C motif receptor 5 (CXCR5) is well known as a B-cell attractant via the CXCR5-CXCL13 axis. Analyzing co-expression patterns on the single cell level revealed that the majority of CXCL13+ T cells co-expressed PD-1 and ICOS, which is known as a universal TFH marker, but co-expression of CXCR5, another common TFH marker, was variable. Notably, classical TFH cells co-expressing CXCR5 and PD-1 were significantly enriched in RLN, whereas PD-1+ CXCL13+ CXCR5- CD4+ T cells were significantly enriched in LR-CHL. These co-expression patterns were validated using flow cytometry. Moreover, the expression of CXCR5 on naïve B cells in the TME was increased in LR-CHL compared to the other CHL subtypes We next sought to understand the spatial relationship between CXCL13+ T cells and malignant HRS cells. IHC of all cases revealed that CXCL13+ T cells were significantly enriched in the LR-CHL TME compared to other subtypes of CHL, and 46% of the LR-CHL cases showed CXCL13+ T cell rosettes closely surrounding HRS cells. Since PD-1+ T cell rosettes are known as a specific feature of LR-CHL, we confirmed co-expression of PD-1 in the rosetting cells by IHC in these cases. Conclusions: Our results reveal a unique TME composition in LR-CHL. LR-CHL seems to be distinctly characterized among the CHL subtypes by enrichment of CXCR5+ naïve B cells and CD4+ CXCL13+ PD-1+ T cells, indicating the importance of the CXCR5-CXCL13 axis in the pathogenesis of LR-CHL. Figure Disclosures Savage: BeiGene: Other: Steering Committee; Merck, BMS, Seattle Genetics, Gilead, AstraZeneca, AbbVie: Honoraria; Roche (institutional): Research Funding; Merck, BMS, Seattle Genetics, Gilead, AstraZeneca, AbbVie, Servier: Consultancy. Scott:Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy; NanoString: Patents & Royalties: Named inventor on a patent licensed to NanoString, Research Funding; NIH: Consultancy, Other: Co-inventor on a patent related to the MCL35 assay filed at the National Institutes of Health, United States of America.; Roche/Genentech: Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy; AstraZeneca: Consultancy. Steidl:AbbVie: Consultancy; Roche: Consultancy; Curis Inc: Consultancy; Juno Therapeutics: Consultancy; Bayer: Consultancy; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ang A. Tu ◽  
Todd M. Gierahn ◽  
Brinda Monian ◽  
Duncan M. Morgan ◽  
Naveen K. Mehta ◽  
...  

Abstract High-throughput 3’ single-cell RNA-Sequencing (scRNA-Seq) allows for cost-effective, detailed characterization of thousands of individual immune cells from healthy and diseased tissues. Current techniques, however, are limited in their ability to elucidate essential immune cell features, including the variable sequences of T cell receptors (TCRs) that confer antigen specificity in T cells. Here, we present an enrichment strategy that enables simultaneous analysis of TCR variable sequences and corresponding full transcriptomes from 3’ barcoded scRNA-Seq samples. This approach is compatible with common 3’ scRNA-Seq methods, and adaptable to processed samples post hoc. We applied the technique to resolve clonotype-to-phenotype relationships among antigen-activated T cells from immunized mice and from patients with food allergy. We observed diverse but preferential cellular phenotypes manifest among subsets of expanded clonotypes, including functional Th2 states associated with food allergy. These results demonstrate the utility of our method when studying complex diseases in which clonotype-driven immune responses are critical to understanding the underlying biology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Szabo ◽  
Hanna Mendes Levitin ◽  
Michelle Miron ◽  
Mark E. Snyder ◽  
Takashi Senda ◽  
...  

Abstract Human T cells coordinate adaptive immunity in diverse anatomic compartments through production of cytokines and effector molecules, but it is unclear how tissue site influences T cell persistence and function. Here, we use single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) to define the heterogeneity of human T cells isolated from lungs, lymph nodes, bone marrow and blood, and their functional responses following stimulation. Through analysis of >50,000 resting and activated T cells, we reveal tissue T cell signatures in mucosal and lymphoid sites, and lineage-specific activation states across all sites including distinct effector states for CD8+ T cells and an interferon-response state for CD4+ T cells. Comparing scRNA-seq profiles of tumor-associated T cells to our dataset reveals predominant activated CD8+ compared to CD4+ T cell states within multiple tumor types. Our results therefore establish a high dimensional reference map of human T cell activation in health for analyzing T cells in disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guohe Song ◽  
Yang Shi ◽  
Meiying Zhang ◽  
Shyamal Goswami ◽  
Saifullah Afridi ◽  
...  

AbstractDiverse immune cells in the tumor microenvironment form a complex ecosystem, but our knowledge of their heterogeneity and dynamics within hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still remains limited. To assess the plasticity and phenotypes of immune cells within HBV/HCV-related HCC microenvironment at single-cell level, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on 41,698 immune cells from seven pairs of HBV/HCV-related HCC tumors and non-tumor liver tissues. We combined bio-informatic analyses, flow cytometry, and multiplex immunohistochemistry to assess the heterogeneity of different immune cell subsets in functional characteristics, transcriptional regulation, phenotypic switching, and interactions. We identified 29 immune cell subsets of myeloid cells, NK cells, and lymphocytes with unique transcriptomic profiles in HCC. A highly complex immunological network was shaped by diverse immune cell subsets that can transit among different states and mutually interact. Notably, we identified a subset of M2 macrophage with high expression of CCL18 and transcription factor CREM that was enriched in advanced HCC patients, and potentially participated in tumor progression. We also detected a new subset of activated CD8+ T cells highly expressing XCL1 that correlated with better patient survival rates. Meanwhile, distinct transcriptomic signatures, cytotoxic phenotypes, and evolution trajectory of effector CD8+ T cells from early-stage to advanced HCC were also identified. Our study provides insight into the immune microenvironment in HBV/HCV-related HCC and highlights novel macrophage and T-cell subsets that could be further exploited in future immunotherapy.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. 304-304
Author(s):  
Pavlos Papavasiliou ◽  
Jonathan R Piposar ◽  
Rodrigo Arrangoiz ◽  
Kathryn T Chen ◽  
Fang Zhu ◽  
...  

304 Background: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of margin status and neoadjuvant therapy in determining outcomes for borderline resectable (BLR) pancreatic cancer and how neoadjuvant chemoradiation impacts margin of resection. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted to identify patients who underwent resection for BLR pancreatic cancer based on the AHPBA/SSO/SSAT consensus definition. Outcomes including overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) were determined based on margin status, location of positive margin (artery, vein, or pancreas), and receipt of neoadjuvant chemoradiation. Results: One hundred and three patients who met the definition of BLR pancreatic cancer and underwent resection between April 1993 and July 2010 were reviewed. Mean age at diagnosis was 65 with a median follow up time of 19.7 months. Neoadjuvant chemoradiation was administered in 49.5% of patients. Twenty-five percent of patients underwent portal and/or superior mesenteric vein resection, and 7% hepatic artery resection. Microscopic positive margin rate was 54%. Median OS was 17.2 months for patients with positive margins versus 24.9 months for patients with negative margins (p=0.003). Median DFS was 13.1 months for patients with positive margins versus 18.6 months for patients with negative margins (p=0.001). There was no difference in OS or DFS for patients with positive margins based on location or number of positive margins. Of the patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiation, 61.7% had a negative margin of resection versus a 38.3% negative margin of resection rate for patients who did not receive neoadjuvant chemoradiation (p=0.02). Among patients with a positive margin, there was no difference in OS or DFS with or without neoadjuvant chemoradiation. Conclusions: A positive margin of resection, irrespective of location or number, is associated with worse outcome in patients with BLR pancreatic cancer. The use of neoadjuvant chemoradiation is associated with higher rates of margin free resection.


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