scholarly journals The Bromodomain Inhibitor, INCB057643, Targets Both Cancer Cells and the Tumor Microenvironment in Two Preclinical Models of Pancreatic Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Ana S. Leal ◽  
Phillip Liu ◽  
Teresa Krieger-Burke ◽  
Bruce Ruggeri ◽  
Karen T. Liby
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cell Populations ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Immune Recognition ◽  
Transcriptional Initiation ◽  
Bet Inhibitor ◽  
Kpc Mice

In pancreatic cancer the tumor microenvironment (TME) can account for up to 90% of the tumor mass. The TME drives essential functions in disease progression, invasion and metastasis. Tumor cells can use epigenetic modulation to evade immune recognition and shape the TME toward an immunosuppressive phenotype. Bromodomain inhibitors are a class of drugs that target BET (bromodomain and extra-terminal) proteins, impairing their ability to bind to acetylated lysines and therefore interfering with transcriptional initiation and elongation. INCB057643 is a new generation, orally bioavailable BET inhibitor that was developed for treating patients with advanced malignancies. KrasG12D/+; Trp53R172H/+; Pdx-1-Cre (KPC) mice mimic human disease, with similar progression and incidence of metastasis. Treatment of established tumors in KPC mice with INCB057643 increased survival by an average of 55 days, compared to the control group. Moreover, INCB057643 reduced metastatic burden in these mice. KPC mice treated with INCB057643, starting at 4 weeks of age, showed beneficial changes in immune cell populations in the pancreas and liver. Similarly, INCB057643 modified immune cell populations in the pancreas of KrasG12D/+; Pdx-1-Cre (KC) mice with pancreatitis, an inflammatory process known to promote pancreatic cancer progression. The data presented here suggest that the bromodomain inhibitor INCB057643 modulates the TME, reducing disease burden in two mouse models of pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, this work suggests that BRD4 may play a role in establishing the TME in the liver, a primary metastatic site for pancreatic cancer.

Identification of Immune-Related Prognostic Biomarkers in Pancreatic Cancer

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1355-1367
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Lin ◽  
Jiakang Ma ◽  
Kaikai Ren ◽  
Mingyu Hou ◽  
Bo Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Risk Score ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Individual Treatment ◽  
Survival Prediction ◽  
Lasso Regression ◽  
Immune Related Genes

Immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer (PC) faces significant challenges. It is urgent to find immunerelated genes for targeted therapy. We aimed to identify immune-related messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) with multiple methods of comprehensive immunoenrichment analysis in predicting survival of PC. PC genomics and clinical data were downloaded from TCGA. We analyzed relative enrichment of 29 immune cells using ssGSEA and classified PC samples into three immuneinfiltrating subgroups. Immune cell infiltration level and pathways were evaluated by ESTIMATE data and KEGG. Independent risk factors were derived from the combined analysis of WGCNA, LASSO regression and Cox regression analyses. Immune risk score was calculated according to four mRNAs to identify its value in predicting survival. PPI analysis was used to analyze the connections and potential pathways among genes. Finally, PC samples were classified into three immuneinfiltrating subgroups. Immunity high subgroup had higher immune score, soakage of immune cells, HLA/PD-L1 expression level, immune-related pathways enrichment and better survivability. Four potential prognostic immune-related genes (ITGB7, RAC2, DNASE1L3, and TRAF1) were identified. Immune risk score could be a potential survival prediction indictor with high sensitivity and specificity (AUC values = 0.708, HR = 1.445). A PPI network with seven nodes and five potential targeted pathways were generated. In conclusion, we estimated the state of immune infiltration in the PC tumor microenvironment by calculating stromal and immune cells enrichment with ssGSEA algorithms, and identified four prognostic immune-related genes that affect the proportion and distribution of immune cells infiltration in the tumor microenvironment. They lay a theoretical foundation to be important immunity targets of individual treatment in PC.

scholarly journals Alignment of stroma fibers, microvessel density and immune cell populations determine overall survival in pancreatic cancer—An analysis of stromal morphology

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. e0234568
Author(s):  
Louisa Bolm ◽  
Petro Zghurskyi ◽  
Hryhoriy Lapshyn ◽  
Ekaterina Petrova ◽  
Sergiy Zemskov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Overall Survival ◽  
Microvessel Density ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cell Populations

scholarly journals Metabolic Alterations in Pancreatic Cancer Progression

Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enza Vernucci ◽  
Jaime Abrego ◽  
Venugopal Gunda ◽  
Surendra K. Shukla ◽  
Aneesha Dasgupta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Precancerous Lesions ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Metabolic Reprogramming ◽  
Pancreatic Tumors ◽  
Metabolic Alterations ◽  
Genetically Engineered Mice

Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the USA. Pancreatic tumors are characterized by enhanced glycolytic metabolism promoted by a hypoxic tumor microenvironment and a resultant acidic milieu. The metabolic reprogramming allows cancer cells to survive hostile microenvironments. Through the analysis of the principal metabolic pathways, we identified the specific metabolites that are altered during pancreatic cancer progression in the spontaneous progression (KPC) mouse model. Genetically engineered mice exhibited metabolic alterations during PanINs formation, even before the tumor development. To account for other cells in the tumor microenvironment and to focus on metabolic adaptations concerning tumorigenic cells only, we compared the metabolic profile of KPC and orthotopic tumors with those obtained from KPC-tumor derived cell lines. We observed significant upregulation of glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway metabolites even at the early stages of pathogenesis. Other biosynthetic pathways also demonstrated a few common perturbations. While some of the metabolic changes in tumor cells are not detectable in orthotopic and spontaneous tumors, a significant number of tumor cell-intrinsic metabolic alterations are readily detectable in the animal models. Overall, we identified that metabolic alterations in precancerous lesions are maintained during cancer development and are largely mirrored by cancer cells in culture conditions.

NANT cancer vaccine an orchestration of immunogenic cell death by overcoming immune suppression and activating NK and T cell therapy in patients with third line or greater metastatic pancreatic cancer.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4_suppl) ◽  
pp. TPS463-TPS463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Elisabeth Seery ◽  
John H. Lee ◽  
Leonard S. Sender ◽  
Frank R. Jones ◽  
Arvind Manohar Shinde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Cell Death ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Cancer Vaccine ◽  
Low Dose ◽  
Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Immune Recognition ◽  
Tumor Cell Death ◽  
Low Dose Chemotherapy

TPS463 Background: Pancreatic cancer has multiple mechanisms to prevent immune recognition that lead to the creation of an immune suppressive tumor microenvironment. We hypothesize that effective and sustained response against tumors requires a coordinated approach that: 1. reverses the immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment, 2. induces immunogenic tumor cell death and 3. reengages NK and T-cell tumor response against a 4. cascade of tumor antigens. To test this hypothesis, we developed the NANT Cancer Vaccine (NCV), which combines metronomic low-dose chemotherapy, radiotherapy and multifaceted immunotherapy. In proof-of-concept trials, the NCV was tested in 10 patients with 3rd-line or greater pancreatic cancer. These trials showed that the NCV could be safely administered in an outpatient setting, with AEs that were manageable by dose-reduction, and preliminary survival results that exceed the standard of care in this heavily-treated population. We believe these results warrant further research, and this abstract describes our newly-designed trial. Methods: A phase 1b, single-arm, open-label trial of the NANT Cancer Vaccine in patients with recurrent metastatic pancreatic cancer has been initiated. Treatment will occur in 3-week cycles of low-dose chemotherapy (aldoxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, oxaliplatin, nab-paclitaxel, 5-FU/L), antiangiogenic therapy (bevacizumab), SBRT, engineered allogeneic high affinity CD16 NK-92 cells (haNK), IL-15RαFc (N-803), adenoviral vector-based CEA vaccine (Ad-CEA), yeast vector-based RAS vaccine (Ye-RAS), and an IgG1 PD-L1 inhibitor, avelumab. The primary endpoint is incidence of treatment-related adverse events. Secondary endpoints include ORR, DCR, PFS, and OS. A maximum of 24 patients will be enrolled. Clinical trial information: NCT03586869.

scholarly journals Tumor Microenvironment Characteristics of Pancreatic Cancer to Determine Prognosis and Immune-Related Gene Signatures

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Congjun Zhang ◽  
Jun Ding ◽  
Xiao Xu ◽  
Yangyang Liu ◽  
Wei Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Gene Expression Omnibus ◽  
The Cancer Genome Atlas ◽  
Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽  
Gap Statistic ◽  
New Strategy ◽  
Immune Cell Subpopulations

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal types of cancer with extremely poor diagnosis and prognosis, and the tumor microenvironment plays a pivotal role during PC progression. Poor prognosis is closely associated with the unsatisfactory results of currently available treatments, which are largely due to the unique pancreatic tumor microenvironment (TME).Methods: In this study, a total of 177 patients with PC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort and 65 patients with PC from the GSE62452 cohort in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were included. Based on the proportions of 22 types of infiltrated immune cell subpopulations calculated by cell-type identification by estimating relative subsets of RNA transcripts (CIBERSORT), the TME was classified by K-means clustering and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were determined. A combination of the elbow method and the gap statistic was used to explore the likely number of distinct clusters in the data. The ConsensusClusterPlus package was utilized to identify radiomics clusters, and the samples were divided into two subtypes.Result: Survival analysis showed that the patients with TMEscore-high phenotype had better prognosis. In addition, the TMEscore-high had better inhibitory effect on the immune checkpoint. A total of 10 miRNAs, 311 DEGs, and 68 methylation sites related to survival were obtained, which could be biomarkers to evaluate the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer.Conclusions: Therefore, a comprehensive description of TME characteristics of pancreatic cancer can help explain the response of pancreatic cancer to immunotherapy and provide a new strategy for cancer treatment.

scholarly journals Metabolic Reprogramming Induces Immune Cell Dysfunction in the Tumor Microenvironment of Multiple Myeloma

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaojie Wu ◽  
Huixian Kuang ◽  
Jin Ke ◽  
Manfei Pi ◽  
Dong-Hua Yang
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Myeloma ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Metabolic Reprogramming ◽  
Metabolic Phenotype ◽  
Cell Dysfunction ◽  
Promising Therapeutic Approach ◽  
Tumor Survival

Tumor cells rewire metabolism to meet their increased nutritional demands, allowing the maintenance of tumor survival, proliferation, and expansion. Enhancement of glycolysis and glutaminolysis is identified in most, if not all cancers, including multiple myeloma (MM), which interacts with a hypoxic, acidic, and nutritionally deficient tumor microenvironment (TME). In this review, we discuss the metabolic changes including generation, depletion or accumulation of metabolites and signaling pathways, as well as their relationship with the TME in MM cells. Moreover, we describe the crosstalk among metabolism, TME, and changing function of immune cells during cancer progression. The overlapping metabolic phenotype between MM and immune cells is discussed. In this sense, targeting metabolism of MM cells is a promising therapeutic approach. We propose that it is important to define the metabolic signatures that may regulate the function of immune cells in TME in order to improve the response to immunotherapy.

scholarly journals Analysis of Tumor Microenvironment Characteristics in Bladder Cancer: Implications for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingyu Chen ◽  
Haotian Chen ◽  
Dong He ◽  
Yaxin Cheng ◽  
Yuxing Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Prognostic Biomarker ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitor ◽  
Clinical Prognosis

The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a crucial role in cancer progression and recent evidence has clarified its clinical significance in predicting outcomes and efficacy. However, there are no studies on the systematic analysis of TME characteristics in bladder cancer. In this study, we comprehensively evaluated the TME invasion pattern of bladder cancer in 1,889 patients, defined three different TME phenotypes, and found that different subtypes were associated with the clinical prognosis and pathological characteristics of bladder cancer. We further explored the signaling pathways, cancer-immunity cycle, copy number, and somatic mutation differences among the different subtypes and used the principal component analysis algorithm to calculate the immune cell (IC) score, a tool for comprehensive evaluation of TME. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses showed that ICscore is a reliable and independent prognostic biomarker. In addition, the use of anti-programmed death-ligand (PD-L1) treatment cohort, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE), Subnetwork Mappings in Alignment of Pathways (SubMAP), and other algorithms confirmed that ICscore is a reliable prognostic biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitor response. Patients with higher ICscore showed a significant therapeutic advantage in immunotherapy. In conclusion, this study improves our understanding of the characteristics of TME infiltration in bladder cancer and provides guidance for more effective personalized immunotherapy strategies.

scholarly journals Comparative Analysis of Immunoactivation by Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields and PD-1 Blockade in Murine Hepatocellular Carcinoma

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Maiweilidan Yimingjiang ◽  
Talaiti Tuergan ◽  
Xinhua Chen ◽  
Hao Wen ◽  
Yingmei Shao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Immune Response ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Nk Cell ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Plasma Concentrations ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Local Ablation ◽  
Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field

Nanosecond pulsed electric field (NsPEF) ablation effectively eliminates early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by local ablation and advanced HCC by inducing a remarkable and sustained host immune response. However, this approach is not sufficient to prevent cancer progression, and complementary approaches are necessary for effective immunotherapy. In this study, we evaluated the immunoactivating effects and mechanisms of action of nsPEF ablation and PD-1 blockade on an HCC orthotopic xenograft mouse model. Briefly, 24 C57BL-6J tumor-bearing mice were randomly assigned to three groups: nsPEF ablation group, anti-PD-1 administration group, and untreated control group. Tumor-infiltrating T, B, and NK cell levels and plasma concentrations of Th1 (IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α), Th2 (IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, and IL-10), Th9 (IL-9), and Th17 (IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-21, and IL-22) cytokines were evaluated. Both nsPEF ablation and anti-PD-1 treatment induced immune cell infiltration in local tumors and modulated cytokine levels in the peripheral blood, with distinct changes in the two treatment groups. Based on these findings, both nsPEF ablation and PD-1 antibody administration can trigger a local and systemic immune response in a partially complementary manner, and nsPEF ablation should be considered along with PD-1 blockade for the treatment of HCC.

Innate and adaptive immunotherapy: An orchestration of immunogenic cell death by overcoming immune suppression and activating NK and T cell therapy in patients with third line or greater metastatic pancreatic cancer.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e15787-e15787
Author(s):  
Tara Elisabeth Seery ◽  
Mira Kistler ◽  
Leonard S. Sender ◽  
John H. Lee ◽  
Arvind Manohar Shinde ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Cell Death ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Low Dose ◽  
Outpatient Setting ◽  
Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Immune Recognition ◽  
Tumor Cell Death ◽  
Low Dose Chemotherapy

e15787 Background: Pancreatic cancer has multiple mechanisms to prevent immune recognition that lead to the creation of an immune suppressive tumor microenvironment. We hypothesize that sustained response against pancreatic cancer requires a coordinated approach that: 1. reverses the immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment, 2. induces immunogenic tumor cell death and 3. reengages NK and T-cell tumor response against a 4. cascade of tumor antigens. To test this hypothesis, we have developed a temporospatial approach that combines metronomic low-dose chemotherapy, SBRT, cryopreserved allogeneic NK cells, yeast and adenoviral tumor-associated antigen vaccines, an IL-15RαFc superagonist, and checkpoint inhibition. Methods: A phase 1b trial in patients with recurrent metastatic pancreatic cancer was initiated. Treatment occurred in 3-week cycles of low-dose chemotherapy (aldoxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, oxaliplatin, nab-paclitaxel, 5-FU/L), antiangiogenic therapy (bevacizumab), SBRT, allogeneic CD16 NK-92 cells (haNK), IL-15RαFc (N-803), adenoviral CEA vaccine, yeast Ras vaccine, and an IgG1 PD-L1 inhibitor, avelumab. The primary endpoint is incidence of treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs). Secondary endpoints include ORR, DCR, PFS, and OS. Results: 12 subjects with 3rd-line or greater metastatic pancreatic cancer were treated. All treatment was administered in an outpatient setting. AEs were primarily hematologic and managed by planned chemo dose reduction. Grade ≥3 TRAEs were observed in 9 out of 12 subjects, predominately chemotherapy-related neutropenia. 9 out of 12 subjects (75%) had a best response of stable disease (≥ 8 weeks). Median PFS is 7.1 months (4.4 – 8.8) and median OS is 8.2 months (5.7 – 9.7) with 1 subject continuing treatment. Conclusions: These preliminary data suggest that low-dose chemo-radiation combined with innate and adaptive immunotherapy can be administered safely in an outpatient setting. Preliminary OS of 8.2 months is encouraging for this heavily-pretreated population. Clinical trial information: NCT03586869.

scholarly journals IL-12 Gene Electrotransfer Triggers a Change in Immune Response within Mouse Tumors

Cancers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilan Shi ◽  
Chelsea Edelblute ◽  
Sezgi Arpag ◽  
Cathryn Lundberg ◽  
Richard Heller
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
T Cells ◽  
Tumor Microenvironment ◽  
Mononuclear Cells ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Immune Memory ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Gene Electrotransfer ◽  
Cell Content ◽  
Peripheral Blood Mononuclear

Metastatic melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer with a relatively low survival rate. Immune-based therapies have shown promise in the treatment of melanoma, but overall complete response rates are still low. Previous studies have demonstrated the potential of plasmid IL-12 (pIL-12) delivered by gene electrotransfer (GET) to be an effective immunotherapy for melanoma. However, events occurring in the tumor microenvironment following delivery have not been delineated. Therefore, utilizing a B16F10 mouse melanoma model, we evaluated changes in the tumor microenvironment following delivery of pIL-12 using different GET parameters or injection of plasmid alone. The results revealed a unique immune cell composition after intratumoral injection of pIL-12 GET. The number of immune memory cells was markedly increased in pIL-12 GET melanoma groups compared to control group. This was validated using flow cytometry to analyze peripheral blood mononuclear cells as well as delineating immune cell content using immunohistochemistry. Significant differences in multiple cell types were observed, including CD8+ T cells, regulatory T cells and myeloid cells, which were induced to mount a CD8+PD1− T cells immune response. Taken together, these findings suggest a basic understanding of the sequence of immune activity following pIL-12 GET and also illuminates that adjuvant immunotherapy can have a positive influence on the host immune response to cancer.

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