Single-cell analyses of metastatic bone marrow in human neuroblastoma reveals microenvironmental remodeling and metastatic signature.

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive pediatric cancer with a high rate of metastasis to the BM. Despite intensive treatments including high-dose chemotherapy, the overall survival rate for children with metastatic neuroblastoma remains dismal. Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the metastatic tumor microenvironment is crucial for developing new therapies and improving clinical outcomes. Here, we used single-cell RNA-Seq to characterize immune and tumor cell alterations in neuroblastoma BM metastases by comparative analysis with patients without metastases. Our results reveal remodeling of the immune cell populations and reprogramming of gene expression profiles in the metastatic niche. In particular, within the BM metastatic niche, we observed the enrichment of immune cells, including tumor-associated neutrophils, macrophages, and exhausted T cells, as well as an increased number of Tregs and a decreased number of B cells. Furthermore, we highlighted cell communication between tumor cells and immune cell populations, and we identified prognostic markers in malignant cells that are associated with worse clinical outcomes in 3 independent neuroblastoma cohorts. Our results provide insight into the cellular, compositional, and transcriptional shifts underlying neuroblastoma BM metastases that contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies.

Long-Lasting Response to Lorlatinib in Patients with ALK-Driven Relapsed or Refractory Neuroblastoma Monitored with Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis.

Patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-driven neuroblastoma may respond to tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but resistance to treatment occurs and methods currently used for detection of residual disease have limited sensitivity. Here, we present a national unselected cohort of five patients with relapsed or refractory ALK-driven neuroblastoma treated with lorlatinib as monotherapy and test the potential of targeted circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis as a guide for treatment decisions in these patients. We developed a sequencing panel for ultrasensitive detection of ALK mutations associated with neuroblastoma or resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and used it for ctDNA analysis in 83 plasma samples collected longitudinally from the four patients who harbored somatic ALK mutations. All four patients with ALK p.R1275Q experienced major responses and were alive 35 to 61 months after starting lorlatinib. A fifth patient with ALK p.F1174L initially had a partial response but relapsed after 10 months of treatment. In all cases, ctDNA was detected at the start of lorlatinib single-agent treatment and declined gradually, correlating with clinical responses. In the two patients exhibiting relapse, ctDNA increased 9 and 3 months, respectively, before clinical detection of disease progression. In one patient harboring HRAS p.Q61L in the relapsed tumor, retrospective ctDNA analysis showed that the mutation appeared de novo after 8 months of lorlatinib treatment. We conclude that some patients with relapsed or refractory high-risk neuroblastoma show durable responses to lorlatinib as monotherapy, and targeted ctDNA analysis is effective for evaluation of treatment and early detection of relapse in ALK-driven neuroblastoma. SIGNIFICANCE: We present five patients with ALK-driven relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma treated with lorlatinib as monotherapy. All patients responded to treatment, and four of them were alive after 3 to 5 years of follow-up. We performed longitudinal ctDNA analysis with ultra-deep sequencing of the ALK tyrosine kinase domain. We conclude that ctDNA analysis may guide treatment decisions in ALK-driven neuroblastoma, also when the disease is undetectable using standard clinical methods.

Macrophage infiltration promotes regrowth in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma after chemotherapy.

Despite aggressive treatment, the 5-year event-free survival rate for children with high-risk neuroblastoma is <50%. While most high-risk neuroblastoma patients initially respond to treatment, often with complete clinical remission, many eventually relapse with therapy-resistant tumors. Novel therapeutic alternatives that prevent the recurrence of therapy-resistant tumors are urgently needed. To understand the adaptation of neuroblastoma under therapy, we analyzed the transcriptomic landscape in 46 clinical tumor samples collected before (PRE) or after (POST) treatment from 22 neuroblastoma patients. RNA sequencing revealed that many of the top-upregulated biological processes in POST MYCN amplified (MNA+) tumors compared to PRE MNA+ tumors were immune-related, and there was a significant increase in numerous genes associated with macrophages. The infiltration of macrophages was corroborated by immunohistochemistry and spatial digital protein profiling. Moreover, POST MNA+ tumor cells were more immunogenic compared to PRE MNA+ tumor cells. To find support for the macrophage-induced outgrowth of certain subpopulations of immunogenic tumor cells following treatment, we examined the genetic landscape in multiple clinical PRE and POST tumor samples from nine neuroblastoma patients revealing a significant correlation between an increased amount of copy number aberrations (CNA) and macrophage infiltration in POST MNA+ tumor samples. Using an in vivo neuroblastoma patient-derived xenograft (PDX) chemotherapy model, we further show that inhibition of macrophage recruitment with anti-CSF1R treatment prevents the regrowth of MNA+ tumors following chemotherapy. Taken together, our work supports a therapeutic strategy for fighting the relapse of MNA+ neuroblastoma by targeting the immune microenvironment.

The immune cell atlas of human neuroblastoma.

Understanding the complete immune cell composition of human neuroblastoma (NB) is crucial for the development of immunotherapeutics. Here, we perform single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on 19 human NB samples coupled with multiplex immunohistochemistry, survival analysis, and comparison with normal fetal adrenal gland data. We provide a comprehensive immune cell landscape and characterize cell-state changes from normal tissue to NB. Our analysis reveals 27 immune cell subtypes, including distinct subpopulations of myeloid, NK, B, and T cells. Several different cell types demonstrate a survival benefit. In contrast to adult cancers and previous NB studies, we show an increase in inflammatory monocyte cell state when contrasting normal and tumor tissue, while no differences in cytotoxicity and exhaustion score for T cells, nor in Treg activity, are observed. Our receptor-ligand interaction analysis reveals a highly complex interactive network of the NB microenvironment from which we highlight several interactions that we suggest for future therapeutic studies.

The XPO1 Inhibitor KPT-8602 Synergizes with Dexamethasone in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

PURPOSE: KPT-8602 (Eltanexor) is a second-generation exportin-1 (XPO1) inhibitor with potent activity against acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in preclinical models and with minimal effects on normal cells. In this study, we evaluated whether KPT-8602 would synergize with dexamethasone, vincristine, or doxorubicin, three drugs currently used for the treatment of ALL. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: First, we searched for the most synergistic combination of KPT-8602 with dexamethasone, vincristine, or doxorubicin in vitro in both B-ALL and T-ALL cell lines using proliferation and apoptosis as a readout. Next, we validated this synergistic effect by treatment of clinically relevant B- and T-ALL patient-derived xenograft models in vivo. Finally, we performed RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) to determine the mechanism of synergy. RESULTS: KPT-8602 showed strong synergism with dexamethasone on human B-ALL and T-ALL cell lines as well as in vivo in three patient-derived ALL xenografts. Compared with single-drug treatment, the drug combination caused increased apoptosis and led to histone depletion. Mechanistically, integration of ChIP-seq and RNA-seq data revealed that addition of KPT-8602 to dexamethasone enhanced the activity of the glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1) and led to increased inhibition of E2F-mediated transcription. We observed strong inhibition of E2F target genes related to cell cycle, DNA replication, and transcriptional regulation. CONCLUSIONS: Our preclinical study demonstrates that KPT-8602 enhances the effects of dexamethasone to inhibit B-ALL and T-ALL cells via NR3C1- and E2F-mediated transcriptional complexes, allowing to achieve increased dexamethasone effects for patients.