Multiplex immunohistochemistry accurately defines the immune context of metastatic melanoma.

A prospective study explored the heterogeneous nature of metastatic melanoma using Multiplex immunohistochemistry (IHC) and flow cytometry (FACS). Multiplex IHC data quantitated immune subset number present intra-tumoral (IT) vs the tumor stroma, plus distance of immune subsets from the tumor margin (TM). In addition, mIHC showed a close association between the presence of IT CD8+ T cells and PDL1 expression in melanoma, which was more prevalent on macrophages than on melanoma cells. In contrast, FACS provided more detailed information regarding the T cell subset differentiation, their activation status and expression of immune checkpoint molecules. Interestingly, mIHC detected significantly higher Treg numbers than FACS and showed preferential CD4+ T cell distribution in the tumor stroma. Based on the mIHC and FACS data, we provide a model which defines metastatic melanoma immune context into four categories using the presence or absence of PDL1+ melanoma cells and/or macrophages, and their location within the tumor or on the periphery, combined with the presence or absence of IT CD8+ T cells. This model interprets melanoma immune context as a spectrum of tumor escape from immune control, and provides a snapshot upon which interpretation of checkpoint blockade inhibitor (CBI) therapy responses can be built.

Absence of retroviral vector-mediated transformation of gene-modified T cells after long-term engraftment in mice.

There is considerable concern regarding the transforming potential of retroviral vectors currently used for gene therapy, with evidence that retroviral integration can lead to leukemia in recipients of gene-modified stem cells. However, it is not clear whether retroviral-mediated transduction of T cells can lead to malignancy. We transduced mouse T cells with a Moloney murine retroviral gene construct and transferred them into congenic mice, which were preconditioned to enhance the engraftment of transferred T cells. Recipients were then observed long-term for evidence of cancer. Transferred T cells persisted in mice throughout life at levels up to 17% with gene copy numbers up to 5.89 x 10(5) per million splenocytes. Mice receiving gene-modified T cells developed tumors at a similar rate as control mice that did not receive T cells, and tumors in both groups of mice were of a similar range of histologies. Hematological malignancies comprised approximately 60% of cancers, and the remaining cancers consisted largely of carcinomas. Importantly, the incidence of lymphomas was similar in both groups of mice, and no lymphomas were found to be of donor T-cell origin. This study indicates that the use of retroviral vectors to transduce T cells does not lead to malignant transformation.

Antitumor activity of dual-specific T cells and influenza virus.

Activation and expansion of T cells are important in disease resolution, but tumors do not usually satisfy these immune requirements. Therefore, we employed a novel strategy whereby dual-specific T cells were generated that could respond to both tumor and influenza virus, reasoning that immunization with influenza virus would activate and expand tumor-specific cells, and inhibit tumor growth. Dual-specific T cells were generated by gene modification of influenza virus-specific mouse T cells with a chimeric gene-encoding reactivity against the erbB2 tumor-associated antigen. Dual-specific T cells were demonstrated to respond against both tumor and influenza in vitro, and expanded in vitro in response to influenza to a much greater degree than in response to tumor cells. Following adoptive transfer and immunization of tumor-bearing mice with influenza virus, dual-specific T cells expanded greatly in numbers in the peritoneal cavity and spleen. This resulted in a significant increase in time of survival of mice. However, tumors were not eradicated, which may have been due to the observed poor penetration of tumor by T cells. This is the first demonstration that the potent immunogenic nature of an infectious agent can be utilized to directly impact on T-cell expansion and activity against tumor in vivo.

Generation of gene-modified T cells reactive against the angiogenic kinase insert domain-containing receptor (KDR) found on tumor vasculature.

The destruction of newly forming tumor vasculature is a promising approach to inhibit tumor growth. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether human lymphocytes gene modified to express a chimeric receptor specific for the angiogenic endothelial cell receptor, KDR, could react against KDR(+) cells. Gene-modified lymphocytes specifically lysed KDR(+) cells and secreted cytokines in response to KDR(+) target cells including human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Anti-KDR lymphocytes induced HUVECs to secrete the chemokine interleukin 8 and upregulate the adhesion molecules VCAM and E-selectin, which may be important in the recruitment of further immune effector cells to tumor. These KDR-specific lymphocytes may be useful in the adoptive immunotherapy of a broad range of cancers by inducing immune-mediated destruction of tumor neovasculature.

Expansion and characterization of T cells transduced with a chimeric receptor against ovarian cancer.

Adoptive immunotherapy with genetically modified T lymphocytes is being utilized in clinical trials for the treatment of a broad range of diseases including cancer and HIV infection. To improve on these treatments, and to better understand their mechanisms of action, it is necessary to develop techniques to generate large numbers of cells and characterize the functional heterogeneity of the cells produced. In this study, patient peripheral blood lymphocytes were transduced with a chimeric antigen receptor (MOv-gamma) derived from a mouse monoclonal antibody against folate-binding protein, which is overexpressed on many ovarian cancers. Thus, irrespective of their original specificity, normal human T lymphocytes were redirected to react against ovarian cancer cells. Lymphocytes from five patients were transduced and grown to large numbers, with a median expansion of more than 7000-fold. When proliferation was inadequate, the cells were expanded by stimulation utilizing anti-CD3, IL-2, and irradiated allogeneic PBMCs. The cells maintained their functional ability to recognize ovarian cancer over several months. Cloning of transduced cells was undertaken to determine the level of gene expression and function of individual cells making up the bulk population. Transduced CD4(+) and CD8(+) cell clones were isolated from the bulk and demonstrated antitumor activity. These clones had a diverse repertoire with respect to secretion of cytokines, and individual clones maintained their cytokine profile on subsequent expansion. These studies establish the feasibility of consistently generating large numbers of gene-modified tumor-reactive lymphocytes, with a stable and diverse cytokine repertoire, that could be utilized for patient treatment.

Analyses of alternative poly(A) signals for use in baculovirus expression vectors.

Synthetic, duplicated, or heterologous sequences encompassing putative 3' mRNA processing (polyadenylation, poly(A)) sites have been analyzed with regard to their involvement in processing mRNA species synthesized from the polyhedrin promoter of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV). The data indicate that a synthetic sequence based on the 3' processing signal of the rabbit beta-globin gene is used more efficiently than an SV40-based, early gene poly(A) signal, or the AcNPV 1629 ORF poly(A) signal. Evidence is presented that indicates that the hexanucleotide AAUAAA alone is inadequate to effect mRNA processing. This supports the view that like other eukaryotic mRNAs additional signals are involved.