scholarly journals Kickstarting Immunity in Cold Tumours: Localised Tumour Therapy Combinations With Immune Checkpoint Blockade

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Appleton ◽  
Jehanne Hassan ◽  
Charleen Chan Wah Hak ◽  
Nanna Sivamanoharan ◽  
Anna Wilkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Tumour Microenvironment ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Immune Monitoring ◽  
Tumour Immunity ◽  
Combination Strategies ◽  
Immune Resistance

Cancer patients with low or absent pre-existing anti-tumour immunity (“cold” tumours) respond poorly to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI). In order to render these patients susceptible to ICPI, initiation of de novo tumour-targeted immune responses is required. This involves triggering of inflammatory signalling, innate immune activation including recruitment and stimulation of dendritic cells (DCs), and ultimately priming of tumour-specific T cells. The ability of tumour localised therapies to trigger these pathways and act as in situ tumour vaccines is being increasingly explored, with the aspiration of developing combination strategies with ICPI that could generate long-lasting responses. In this effort, it is crucial to consider how therapy-induced changes in the tumour microenvironment (TME) act both as immune stimulants but also, in some cases, exacerbate immune resistance mechanisms. Increasingly refined immune monitoring in pre-clinical studies and analysis of on-treatment biopsies from clinical trials have provided insight into therapy-induced biomarkers of response, as well as actionable targets for optimal synergy between localised therapies and ICB. Here, we review studies on the immunomodulatory effects of novel and experimental localised therapies, as well as the re-evaluation of established therapies, such as radiotherapy, as immune adjuvants with a focus on ICPI combinations.

scholarly journals Resistance Mechanisms and Barriers to Successful Immunotherapy for Treating Glioblastoma

Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Adhikaree ◽  
Julia Moreno-Vicente ◽  
Aanchal Preet Kaur ◽  
Andrew Mark Jackson ◽  
Poulam M. Patel
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Treatment Success ◽  
Lymphatic Drainage ◽  
Tumour Microenvironment ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Tumour Immunity ◽  
Combination Strategies ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade Antibodies

Glioblastoma (GBM) is inevitably refractory to surgery and chemoradiation. The hope for immunotherapy has yet to be realised in the treatment of GBM. Immune checkpoint blockade antibodies, particularly those targeting the Programme death 1 (PD-1)/PD-1 ligand (PD-L1) pathway, have improved the prognosis in a range of cancers. However, its use in combination with chemoradiation or as monotherapy has proved unsuccessful in treating GBM. This review focuses on our current knowledge of barriers to immunotherapy success in treating GBM, such as diminished pre-existing anti-tumour immunity represented by low levels of PD-L1 expression, low tumour mutational burden and a severely exhausted T-cell tumour infiltrate. Likewise, systemic T-cell immunosuppression is seen driven by tumoural factors and corticosteroid use. Furthermore, unique anatomical differences with primary intracranial tumours such as the blood-brain barrier, the type of antigen-presenting cells and lymphatic drainage contribute to differences in treatment success compared to extracranial tumours. There are, however, shared characteristics with those known in other tumours such as the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment. We conclude with a summary of ongoing and future immune combination strategies in GBM, which are representative of the next wave in immuno-oncology therapeutics.

Managing Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Lung Cancer: Treatment and Novel Strategies

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Passaro ◽  
Julie Brahmer ◽  
Scott Antonia ◽  
Tony Mok ◽  
Solange Peters
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Acquired Resistance ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Primary Resistance ◽  
Previous Response ◽  
Immune Resistance ◽  
Clinical Resistance

A proportion of patients with lung cancer experience long-term clinical benefit with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). However, most patients develop disease progression during treatment or after treatment discontinuation. Definitions of immune resistance are heterogeneous according to different clinical and biologic features. Primary resistance and acquired resistance, related to tumor-intrinsic and tumor-extrinsic mechanisms, are identified according to previous response patterns and timing of occurrence. The clinical resistance patterns determine differential clinical approaches. To date, several combination therapies are under development to delay or prevent the occurrence of resistance to ICIs, including the blockade of immune coinhibitory signals, the activation of those with costimulatory functions, the modulation of the tumor microenvironment, and the targeting T-cell priming. Tailoring the specific treatments with distinctive biologic resistance mechanisms would be ideal to improve the design and results of clinical trial. In this review, we reviewed the available evidence on immune resistance mechanisms, clinical definitions, and management of resistance to ICIs in lung cancer. We also reviewed data on novel strategies under investigation in this setting.

scholarly journals Immunology and Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in Ovarian Cancer – Current Aspects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger Bronger
Keyword(s):  
Ovarian Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Predictive Biomarkers ◽  
Clinical Trial Data ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Success Story ◽  
Mutational Burden

AbstractIn the last decade immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) against the PD-1/PD-L1 system have revolutionised the treatment of numerous entities. To date, ovarian cancer has benefited very little from this success story. Possible causes include a rather low mutational burden compared to other tumour types, inadequate presentation of (neo-)antigens, and increased infiltration with immunosuppressive immune cells such as regulatory T cells and tumour-associated macrophages. In the clinical trials completed to date, the response rates to PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors have therefore been disappointingly low as well, although isolated long-term remissions have also been observed in ovarian cancer. The task now is to find suitable predictive biomarkers as well as to identify combination partners for ICB therapy that can increase the immunogenicity of ovarian cancer or overcome immunosuppressive resistance mechanisms. This paper provides an overview of the immune milieu in ovarian cancer, its impact on the effect of ICB, and summarises the clinical trial data available to date on ICB in ovarian cancer.

scholarly journals Combination of immunotherapy with chemotherapy and radiotherapy in lung cancer: is this the beginning of the end for cancer?

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 175883591876209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Lazzari ◽  
Niki Karachaliou ◽  
Alessandra Bulotta ◽  
Mariagrazia Viganó ◽  
Aurora Mirabile ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Combination Strategies ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Programmed Death ◽  
Programmed Death 1 ◽  
Nsclc Patients ◽  
Sequential Evaluation

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have significantly improved overall survival with an acceptable safety profile in a substantial proportion of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, not all patients are sensitive to immune checkpoint blockade and, in some cases, programmed death 1 (PD-1) or programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors accelerate tumor progression. Several combination strategies are under evaluation, including the concomitant or sequential evaluation of chemotherapy or radiotherapy with immunotherapy. The current review provides an overview on the molecular rationale for the investigation of combinatorial approaches with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Moreover, the results of completed clinical studies will be reported.

scholarly journals Semi-mechanistic Model for the Antitumor Response of a Combination Cocktail of Immuno-Modulators in Non-inflamed (Cold) Tumors

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5049
Author(s):  
Aymara Sancho-Araiz ◽  
Sara Zalba ◽  
María J. Garrido ◽  
Pedro Berraondo ◽  
Brian Topp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Tumor Size ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Mechanistic Model ◽  
Drug Effects ◽  
Exponential Model ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Antitumor Response ◽  
Combination Strategies ◽  
Clinical Scenarios

Immune checkpoint inhibitors, administered as single agents, have demonstrated clinical efficacy. However, when treating cold tumors, different combination strategies are needed. This work aims to develop a semi-mechanistic model describing the antitumor efficacy of immunotherapy combinations in cold tumors. Tumor size of mice treated with TC-1/A9 non-inflamed tumors and the drug effects of an antigen, a toll-like receptor-3 agonist (PIC), and an immune checkpoint inhibitor (anti-programmed cell death 1 antibody) were modeled using Monolix and following a middle-out strategy. Tumor growth was best characterized by an exponential model with an estimated initial tumor size of 19.5 mm3 and a doubling time of 3.6 days. In the treatment groups, contrary to the lack of response observed in monotherapy, combinations including the antigen were able to induce an antitumor response. The final model successfully captured the 23% increase in the probability of cure from bi-therapy to triple-therapy. Moreover, our work supports that CD8+ T lymphocytes and resistance mechanisms are strongly related to the clinical outcome. The activation of antigen-presenting cells might be needed to achieve an antitumor response in reduced immunogenic tumors when combined with other immunotherapies. These models can be used as a platform to evaluate different immuno-oncology combinations in preclinical and clinical scenarios.

scholarly journals Radiation and Immunotherapy in Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers: The Current State of Play

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1071
Author(s):  
Noel E. Donlon ◽  
Robert Power ◽  
Conall Hayes ◽  
Maria Davern ◽  
John V. Reynolds ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Single Agent ◽  
Locally Advanced ◽  
Tumour Microenvironment ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Tumour Immunity ◽  
Current State ◽  
Sting Pathway ◽  
Upper Gastrointestinal

Radiotherapy remains one of the contemporary cornerstones of cancer treatment in the neoadjuvant, curative, adjuvant and palliative settings, either in isolation or as a multimodal approach. Moreover, recent advances in targeted immune checkpoint therapy have firmly established immunotherapy as the fourth pillar in cancer therapy alongside surgery, chemotherapy and notably radiotherapy. There is emerging evidence to suggest both radioresistance and reduced efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) are potentiated by the tumour microenvironment (TME) and in fact modulating aspects of this immunosuppressive milieu is instrumental to unlocking anti-tumour immunity. The response rates of Upper Gastrointestinal (UGI) malignancies to ICB remains modest at 10–15%, compared to melanoma at 20–40%. Harnessing the effects of radiotherapy through remodelling of the TME using ICB as a radiosensitisor is an avenue showing promise. Here we explore the rationale behind combining radiotherapy with ICB, as a symbiotic relationship in shifting the balance in favour of anti-tumour immunity. We discuss the effects of radiotherapy on immunogenic cell death, the concept of the abscopal effect, the importance of the cGAS STING pathway, and their relevance in the context of the tumour microenvironment. Furthermore, dosing and timing of radiotherapy and ICB is now being evaluated for its synergistic effects on host tumour immunity, and we review the ongoing efforts and current available literature for single agent and dual agent ICB in combination multimodal therapy for both locally advanced operable and metastatic disease of the upper gastrointestinal tract.

scholarly journals Treatment with therapeutic anticoagulation is not associated with immunotherapy response in advanced cancer patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Johannet ◽  
Amelia Sawyers ◽  
Nicholas Gulati ◽  
Douglas Donnelly ◽  
Samuel Kozloff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Advanced Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Objective Response ◽  
Progression Free Survival ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Coagulation Cascade ◽  
Advanced Cancer Patients ◽  
Clinical Endpoints

Abstract Background Recent preclinical data suggest that there may be therapeutic synergy between immune checkpoint blockade and inhibition of the coagulation cascade. Here, we investigate whether patients who received immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and were on concomitant anticoagulation (AC) experienced better treatment outcomes than individuals not on AC.Affiliation: Kindly confirm if corresponding authors affiliation is identified correctly.The corresponding author's affiliation is correct. Methods We studied a cohort of 728 advanced cancer patients who received 948 lines of ICI at NYU (2010–2020). Patients were classified based on whether they did (n = 120) or did not (n = 828) receive therapeutic AC at any point during their treatment with ICI. We investigated the relationship between AC status and multiple clinical endpoints including best overall response (BOR), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and the incidence of bleeding complications.Affiliations: Journal instruction requires a country for affiliations; however, this is missing in affiliations 1 to 5. Please verify if the provided country is correct and amend if necessary.The country is correct for all affiliations (1 - 5). Results Treatment with AC was not associated with significantly different BOR (P = 0.80), ORR (P =0.60), DCR (P =0.77), PFS (P = 0.59), or OS (P =0.64). Patients who received AC were significantly more likely to suffer a major or clinically relevant minor bleed (P = 0.05). Conclusion AC does not appear to impact the activity or efficacy of ICI in advanced cancer patients. On the basis of our findings, we caution that there is insufficient evidence to support prospectively evaluating the combination of AC and immunotherapy.

scholarly journals Prospects of immune checkpoint blockade and vaccine-based immunotherapy for glioblastoma

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Tietze ◽  
Susanne Michen ◽  
Gabriele Schackert ◽  
Achim Temme
Keyword(s):  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Primary Brain Tumor ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Oncolytic Viruses ◽  
Therapeutic Vaccines ◽  
Dismal Prognosis ◽  
Tumor Parenchyma ◽  
Immunosuppressive Microenvironment

Abstract Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most prevalent primary brain tumor endowed with a dismal prognosis. Nowadays, immunotherapy in a particular immune checkpoint blockade and therapeutic vaccines are being extensively pursued. Yet, several characteristics of GBM may impact such immunotherapeutic approaches. This includes tumor heterogeneity, the relatively low mutational load of primary GBM, insufficient delivery of antibodies to tumor parenchyma and the unique immunosuppressive microenvironment of GBM. Moreover, standard treatment of GBM, comprising temozolomide chemotherapy, radiotherapy and in most instances the application of glucocorticoids for management of brain edema, results in a further increased immunosuppression. This review will provide a brief introduction to the principles of vaccine-based immunotherapy and give an overview of the current clinical studies, which employed immune checkpoint inhibitors, oncolytic viruses-based vaccination, cell-based and peptide-based vaccines. Recent experiences as well as the latest developments are reviewed. Overcoming obstacles, which limit the induction and long-term immune response against GBM when using vaccination approaches, are necessary for the implementation of effective immunotherapy of GBM.

scholarly journals Cancer Vaccines for Genitourinary Tumors: Recent Progresses and Future Possibilities

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 623
Author(s):  
Brigida Anna Maiorano ◽  
Giovanni Schinzari ◽  
Davide Ciardiello ◽  
Maria Grazia Rodriquenz ◽  
Antonio Cisternino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Vaccines ◽  
Viral Vectors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Tumor Development ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
High Morbidity ◽  
Therapeutic Vaccines ◽  
Combination Strategies ◽  
New Treatment

Background: In the last years, many new treatment options have widened the therapeutic scenario of genitourinary malignancies. Immunotherapy has shown efficacy, especially in the urothelial and renal cell carcinomas, with no particular relevance in prostate cancer. However, despite the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, there is still high morbidity and mortality among these neoplasms. Cancer vaccines represent another way to activate the immune system. We sought to summarize the most recent advances in vaccine therapy for genitourinary malignancies with this review. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Database for clinical trials conducted in the last ten years, focusing on cancer vaccines in the prostate, urothelial and renal cancer. Results: Various therapeutic vaccines, including DNA-based, RNA-based, peptide-based, dendritic cells, viral vectors and modified tumor cells, have been demonstrated to induce specific immune responses in a variable percentage of patients. However, these responses rarely corresponded to significant survival improvements. Conclusions: Further preclinical and clinical studies will improve the knowledge about cancer vaccines in genitourinary malignancies to optimize dosage, select targets with a driver role for tumor development and growth, and finally overcome resistance mechanisms. Combination strategies represent possibly more effective and long-lasting treatments.

scholarly journals Rethinking immune checkpoint blockade: ‘Beyond the T cell’

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e001460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuting Liu ◽  
Graham D Hogg ◽  
David G DeNardo
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Antitumor Immunity ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Clinical Success ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Checkpoint Blockade

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document