RESUMO
The SWI/SNF complex is a chromatin remodeling complex comprised by several proteins such as SMARCA4 or SMARCB1. Mutations in its components can lead to the development of aggressive rhabdoid tumors such as epithelioid sarcoma, malignant rhabdoid tumor or small cell carcinoma of the ovary hypercalcemic type, among others. These malignancies tend to affect young patients and their prognosis is poor given the lack of effective treatments. Characteristically, these tumors are highly infiltrated by TILs, suggesting that some lymphocytes are recognizing tumor antigens. The use of those TILs as a therapeutic strategy is a promising approach worth exploring. Here, we report the clinical protocol of the TILTS study, a Phase II clinical trial assessing personalized adoptive cell therapy with TILs in patients affected by these tumor types.Clinical Trial Registration: 2023-504632-17-00 (www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu) (ClinicalTrials.gov).
[Box: see text].
RESUMO
Chemotherapy often generates intratumoral senescent cancer cells that strongly modify the tumor microenvironment, favoring immunosuppression and tumor growth. We discovered, through an unbiased proteomics screen, that the immune checkpoint inhibitor programmed cell death 1 ligand 2 (PD-L2) is highly upregulated upon induction of senescence in different types of cancer cells. PD-L2 is not required for cells to undergo senescence, but it is critical for senescent cells to evade the immune system and persist intratumorally. Indeed, after chemotherapy, PD-L2-deficient senescent cancer cells are rapidly eliminated and tumors do not produce the senescence-associated chemokines CXCL1 and CXCL2. Accordingly, PD-L2-deficient pancreatic tumors fail to recruit myeloid-derived suppressor cells and undergo regression driven by CD8 T cells after chemotherapy. Finally, antibody-mediated blockade of PD-L2 strongly synergizes with chemotherapy causing remission of mammary tumors in mice. The combination of chemotherapy with anti-PD-L2 provides a therapeutic strategy that exploits vulnerabilities arising from therapy-induced senescence.
Assuntos
Neoplasias Pancreáticas , Animais , Camundongos , Neoplasias Pancreáticas/metabolismo , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/patologia , Tolerância Imunológica , Terapia de Imunossupressão , Senescência Celular , Microambiente TumoralRESUMO
Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common ocular malignancy in adults. Nearly 95% of UM patients carry the mutually exclusive mutations in the homologous genes GNAQ (amino acid change Q209L/Q209P) and GNA11 (aminoacid change Q209L). UM is located in an immunosuppressed organ and does not suffer immunoediting. Therefore, we hypothesize that driver mutations in GNAQ/11 genes could be recognized by the immune system. Genomic and transcriptomic data from primary uveal tumors were collected from the TCGA-UM dataset (n = 80) and used to assess the immunogenic potential for GNAQ/GNA11 Q209L/Q209P mutations using a variety of tools and HLA type information. All prediction tools showed stronger GNAQ/11 Q209L binding to HLA than GNAQ/11 Q209P. The immunogenicity analysis revealed that Q209L is likely to be presented by more than 73% of individuals in 1000 G databases whereas Q209P is only predicted to be presented in 24% of individuals. GNAQ/11 Q209L showed a higher likelihood to be presented by HLA-I molecules than almost all driver mutations analyzed. Finally, samples carrying Q209L had a higher immune-reactive phenotype. Regarding cancer risk, seven HLA genotypes with low Q209L affinity show higher frequency in uveal melanoma patients than in the general population. However, no clear association was found between any HLA genotype and survival. Results suggest a high potential immunogenicity of the GNAQ/11 Q209L variant that could allow the generation of novel therapeutic tools to treat UM like neoantigen vaccinations.
Assuntos
Subunidades alfa de Proteínas de Ligação ao GTP , Neoplasias Uveais , Adulto , Humanos , Subunidades alfa de Proteínas de Ligação ao GTP/genética , Subunidades alfa de Proteínas de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismo , Subunidades alfa Gq-G11 de Proteínas de Ligação ao GTP/genética , Subunidades alfa Gq-G11 de Proteínas de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismo , Neoplasias Uveais/genética , Neoplasias Uveais/terapia , Neoplasias Uveais/metabolismo , Mutação , ImunoterapiaRESUMO
Neoantigens are peptides derived from non-synonymous mutations presented by human leukocyte antigens (HLAs), which are recognized by antitumour T cells1-14. The large HLA allele diversity and limiting clinical samples have restricted the study of the landscape of neoantigen-targeted T cell responses in patients over their treatment course. Here we applied recently developed technologies15-17 to capture neoantigen-specific T cells from blood and tumours from patients with metastatic melanoma with or without response to anti-programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy. We generated personalized libraries of neoantigen-HLA capture reagents to single-cell isolate the T cells and clone their T cell receptors (neoTCRs). Multiple T cells with different neoTCR sequences (T cell clonotypes) recognized a limited number of mutations in samples from seven patients with long-lasting clinical responses. These neoTCR clonotypes were recurrently detected over time in the blood and tumour. Samples from four patients with no response to anti-PD-1 also demonstrated neoantigen-specific T cell responses in the blood and tumour to a restricted number of mutations with lower TCR polyclonality and were not recurrently detected in sequential samples. Reconstitution of the neoTCRs in donor T cells using non-viral CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing demonstrated specific recognition and cytotoxicity to patient-matched melanoma cell lines. Thus, effective anti-PD-1 immunotherapy is associated with the presence of polyclonal CD8+ T cells in the tumour and blood specific for a limited number of immunodominant mutations, which are recurrently recognized over time.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Neoplasias , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos , Inibidores de Checkpoint Imunológico , Imunoterapia , Melanoma , Humanos , Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/metabolismo , Melanoma/tratamento farmacológico , Melanoma/genética , Melanoma/imunologia , Melanoma/patologia , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Inibidores de Checkpoint Imunológico/farmacologia , Inibidores de Checkpoint Imunológico/uso terapêutico , Antígenos HLA/imunologia , Metástase Neoplásica , Medicina de Precisão , Edição de Genes , Sistemas CRISPR-Cas , MutaçãoRESUMO
PURPOSE: Tumor antigens are central to antitumor immunity. Recent evidence suggests that peptides from noncanonical (nonC) aberrantly translated proteins can be presented on HLA-I by tumor cells. Here, we investigated the immunogenicity of nonC tumor HLA-I ligands (nonC-TL) to better understand their contribution to cancer immunosurveillance and their therapeutic applicability. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Peptides presented on HLA-I were identified in 9 patient-derived tumor cell lines from melanoma, gynecologic, and head and neck cancer through proteogenomics. A total of 507 candidate tumor antigens, including nonC-TL, neoantigens, cancer-germline, or melanocyte differentiation antigens, were tested for T-cell recognition of preexisting responses in patients with cancer. Donor peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were in vitro sensitized against 170 selected nonC-TL to isolate antigen-specific T-cell receptors (TCR) and evaluate their therapeutic potential. RESULTS: We found no recognition of the 507 nonC-TL tested by autologous ex vivo expanded tumor-reactive T-cell cultures while the same cultures demonstrated reactivity to mutated, cancer-germline, or melanocyte differentiation antigens. However, in vitro sensitization of donor PBL against 170 selected nonC-TL, led to the identification of TCRs specific to three nonC-TL, two of which mapped to the 5' UTR regions of HOXC13 and ZKSCAN1, and one mapping to a noncoding spliced variant of C5orf22C. T cells targeting these nonC-TL recognized cancer cell lines naturally presenting their corresponding antigens. Expression of the three immunogenic nonC-TL was shared across tumor types and barely or not detected in normal cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings predict a limited contribution of nonC-TL to cancer immunosurveillance but demonstrate they may be attractive novel targets for widely applicable immunotherapies. See related commentary by Fox et al., p. 2173.
Assuntos
Neoplasias , Proteogenômica , Feminino , Humanos , Ligantes , Iluminação , Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T , Peptídeos/imunologiaRESUMO
Cellular senescence is a stress response that activates innate immune cells, but little is known about its interplay with the adaptive immune system. Here, we show that senescent cells combine several features that render them highly efficient in activating dendritic cells (DC) and antigen-specific CD8 T cells. This includes the release of alarmins, activation of IFN signaling, enhanced MHC class I machinery, and presentation of senescence-associated self-peptides that can activate CD8 T cells. In the context of cancer, immunization with senescent cancer cells elicits strong antitumor protection mediated by DCs and CD8 T cells. Interestingly, this protection is superior to immunization with cancer cells undergoing immunogenic cell death. Finally, the induction of senescence in human primary cancer cells also augments their ability to activate autologous antigen-specific tumor-infiltrating CD8 lymphocytes. Our study indicates that senescent cancer cells can be exploited to develop efficient and protective CD8-dependent antitumor immune responses. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study shows that senescent cells are endowed with a high immunogenic potential-superior to the gold standard of immunogenic cell death. We harness these properties of senescent cells to trigger efficient and protective CD8-dependent antitumor immune responses. See related article by Chen et al., p. 432. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 247.
Assuntos
Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos , Neoplasias , Camundongos , Animais , Humanos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Senescência Celular , Microambiente TumoralRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Despite the growing interest in immunotherapeutic interventions for endometrial cancer (EC), the prevalence, phenotype, specificity and prognostic value of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in this tumor type remains unclear. METHODS: To better understand the role of TILs in EC, we analyzed the phenotypic traits of CD8+ and CD4+ EC-resident T cells from 47 primary tumors by high-dimensional flow cytometry. In addition, CD8+ and CD4+ TIL subpopulations were isolated based on the differential expression of programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) (negative, dim and high) and CD39 (positive or negative) by fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), expanded in vitro, and screened for autologous tumor recognition. We further investigated whether phenotypic markers preferentially expressed on CD8+ and CD4+ tumor-reactive TIL subsets were associated with the four distinct molecular subtypes of EC, tumor mutational burden and patient survival. RESULTS: We found that CD8+TILs expressing high levels of PD-1 (PD-1hi) co-expressed CD39, TIM-3, HLA-DR and CXCL13, as compared with TILs lacking or displaying intermediate levels of PD-1 expression (PD-1- and PD-1dim, respectively). Autologous tumor reactivity of sorted and in vitro expanded CD8+ TILs demonstrated that the CD8+PD-1dimCD39+ and PD-1hiCD39+ T cell subsets both contained tumor-reactive TILs and that a higher level of PD-1 expression was associated with increased CD39 and a superior frequency of tumor reactivity. With respect to CD4+ T conventional (Tconv) TILs, co-expression of inhibitory and activation markers was more apparent on PD-1hi compared with PD-1- or PD-1dim T cells, and in fact, it was the CD4+PD-1hi subpopulation that accumulated the antitumor T cells irrespective of CD39 expression. Most importantly, detection of CD8+PD-1hiCD39+ and CD4+PD-1hi tumor-reactive T-cell subsets, but also markers specifically expressed by these subpopulations of TILs, that is, PD-1hi, CD39, CXCL13 and CD103 by CD8+ TILs and PD-1hi and CXCL13 by CD4+ Tconv TILs, correlated with prolonged survival of patients with EC. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that EC are frequently infiltrated by tumor-reactive TILs, and that expression of PD-1hi and CD39 or PD-1hi can be used to select and expand CD8+ and CD4+ tumor-reactive TILs, respectively. In addition, biomarkers preferentially expressed on tumor-reactive TILs, rather than the frequency of CD3+, CD8+ and CD4+ lymphocytes, hold prognostic value suggesting their protective role in antitumor immunity.
Assuntos
Neoplasias do Endométrio , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral , Humanos , Feminino , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1 , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos , Prognóstico , Neoplasias do Endométrio/metabolismo , Biomarcadores Tumorais/metabolismo , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/metabolismoRESUMO
In this issue of Cancer Cell, Hanada et al. leverage single-cell multi-omics of lung cancer resident lymphocytes to identify phenotypic and transcriptomic signatures differentially expressed by neoantigen-reactive clonotypes. These findings could substantially expedite the selection of neoantigen-specific T cell receptors (TCRs) for individualized T cell therapies.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Neoplasias , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T , Humanos , Linfócitos , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/genética , Linfócitos T , TranscriptomaRESUMO
Tumor neoepitopes presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I are recognized by tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) and are targeted by adoptive T-cell therapies. Identifying which mutant neoepitopes from tumor cells are capable of recognition by T cells can assist in the development of tumor-specific, cell-based therapies and can shed light on antitumor responses. Here, we generate a ranking algorithm for class I candidate neoepitopes by using next-generation sequencing data and a dataset of 185 neoepitopes that are recognized by HLA class I-restricted TIL from individuals with metastatic cancer. Random forest model analysis showed that the inclusion of multiple factors impacting epitope presentation and recognition increased output sensitivity and specificity compared to the use of predicted HLA binding alone. The ranking score output provides a set of class I candidate neoantigens that may serve as therapeutic targets and provides a tool to facilitate in vitro and in vivo studies aimed at the development of more effective immunotherapies.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Neoplasias , Neoplasias , Antígenos de Neoplasias/genética , Antígenos HLA/genética , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidade Classe I/genética , Humanos , Imunoterapia , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral , Aprendizado de Máquina , Neoplasias/genética , Linfócitos TRESUMO
Immunotherapy has raised high expectations in the treatment of virtually every cancer. Many current efforts are focused on ensuring the efficient delivery of active cytotoxic cells to tumors. It is assumed that, once these active cytotoxic cells are correctly engaged to cancer cells, they will unfailingly eliminate the latter, provided that inhibitory factors are in check. T cell bispecific antibodies (TCBs) and chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) offer an opportunity to test this assumption. Using TCB and CARs directed against HER2, here we show that disruption of interferon-gamma signaling confers resistance to killing by active T lymphocytes. The kinase JAK2, which transduces the signal initiated by interferon-gamma, is a component repeatedly disrupted in several independently generated resistant models. Our results unveil a seemingly widespread strategy used by cancer cells to resist clearance by redirected lymphocytes. In addition, they open the possibility that long-term inhibition of interferon-gamma signaling may impair the elimination phase of immunoediting and, thus, promote tumor progression.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Biespecíficos/imunologia , Regulação para Baixo , Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos/imunologia , Janus Quinase 2/metabolismo , Neoplasias/imunologia , Receptor ErbB-2/metabolismo , Receptores de Antígenos Quiméricos/imunologia , Linfócitos T/imunologia , Animais , Linhagem Celular , Citotoxicidade Imunológica , Humanos , Interferon gama/metabolismo , Camundongos , Transdução de Sinais , Transcriptoma/genéticaRESUMO
Based on the success of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL)-based therapies, personalized adoptive cell therapies (ACT) targeting neoantigens have the potential to become a disruptive technology and lead to highly effective treatments for cancer patients for whom no other options exist. ACT of TIL, peripheral blood or gene-engineered peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) targeting neoantigens is a highly personalized intervention that requires three discrete steps: i) Identification of suitable personal targets (neoantigens), ii) selection of T cells or their T cell receptors (TCRs) that are specific for the identified neoantigens and iii) expansion of the selected T cell population or generation of sufficient number of TCR modified T cells. In this review, we provide an introduction into challenges and approaches to identify neoantigens and to select the Adoptive Cell Therapy, ACT, Neoantigen, T cell, Cancer respective neoantigen-reactive T cells for use in ACT.
Assuntos
Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral , Linfócitos T , Antígenos de Neoplasias/genética , Humanos , Imunoterapia Adotiva , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/genéticaRESUMO
T-cell receptor ß analysis can be exploited to monitor changes in the clonotypic composition of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) during ex vivo expansion in IL2. Oligoclonal TILs are often outgrown by infrequent clonotypes with greater proliferative capacity, and this could impact the antitumor reactivity of the expanded TILs.See related article by Poschke et al., p. 4289.
Assuntos
Neoplasias , Linfócitos T , Células Clonais , Humanos , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral , Neoplasias/genética , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T alfa-betaRESUMO
Retroviral gene transfer of interleukin-12 (IL-12) into T cells markedly enhances antitumor efficacy upon adoptive transfer but has clinically shown unacceptable severe side effects. To overcome the toxicity, we engineered tumor-specific CD8+ T cells to transiently express IL-12. Engineered T cells injected intratumorally, but not intravenously, led to complete rejections not only of the injected lesion but also of distant concomitant tumors. Efficacy was further enhanced by co-injection with agonist anti-CD137 mAb or by transient co-expression of CD137 ligand. This treatment induced epitope spreading of the endogenous CD8+ T cell immune response in a manner dependent on cDC1 dendritic cells. Mouse and human tumor-infiltrating T lymphocyte cultures can be transiently IL-12 engineered to attain marked immunotherapeutic effects.
Assuntos
Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Imunoterapia Adotiva , Interleucina-12/genética , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral/imunologia , Transferência Adotiva/métodos , Animais , Anticorpos Monoclonais/farmacologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Células Dendríticas/imunologia , Humanos , Imunoterapia Adotiva/métodos , Melanoma Experimental/tratamento farmacológico , Melanoma Experimental/imunologia , Camundongos , Linfócitos T Citotóxicos/imunologiaRESUMO
Tumor-resident lymphocytes can mount a response against neoantigens expressed in microsatellite-stable gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and adoptive transfer of neoantigen-specific lymphocytes has demonstrated antitumor activity in selected patients. However, whether peripheral blood could be used as an alternative minimally invasive source to identify lymphocytes targeting neoantigens in patients with GI cancer with relatively low mutation burden is unclear. We used a personalized high-throughput screening strategy to investigate whether PD-1 expression in peripheral blood could be used to identify CD8+ or CD4+ lymphocytes recognizing neoantigens identified by whole-exome sequencing in 7 patients with GI cancer. We found that neoantigen-specific lymphocytes were preferentially enriched in the CD8+PD-1+/hi or CD4+PD-1+/hi subsets, but not in the corresponding bulk or PD-1- fractions. In 6 of 7 individuals analyzed we identified circulating CD8+ and CD4+ lymphocytes targeting 6 and 4 neoantigens, respectively. Moreover, neoantigen-reactive T cells and a T cell receptor (TCR) isolated from the CD8+PD-1+ subsets recognized autologous tumor, albeit at reduced levels, in 2 patients with available cell lines. These data demonstrate the existence of circulating T cells targeting neoantigens in GI cancer patients and provide an approach to generate enriched populations of personalized neoantigen-specific lymphocytes and isolate TCRs that could be exploited therapeutically to treat cancer.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Neoplasias/farmacologia , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Neoplasias Gastrointestinais/imunologia , Proteínas de Neoplasias/imunologia , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1/imunologia , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/patologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/patologia , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
All tumors accumulate genetic alterations, some of which can give rise to mutated, non-self peptides presented by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules and elicit T-cell responses. These immunogenic mutated peptides, or neoantigens, are foreign in nature and display exquisite tumor specificity. The correlative evidence suggesting they play an important role in the effectiveness of various cancer immunotherapies has triggered the development of vaccines and adoptive T-cell therapies targeting them. However, the systematic identification of personalized neoantigens in cancer patients, a critical requisite for the success of these therapies, remains challenging. A growing amount of evidence supports that only a small fraction of all tumor somatic non-synonymous mutations (NSM) identified represent bona fide neoantigens; mutated peptides that are processed, presented on the cell surface HLA molecules of cancer cells and are capable of triggering immune responses in patients. Here, we provide an overview of the existing strategies to identify candidate neoantigens and to evaluate their immunogenicity, two factors that impact on neoantigen identification. We will focus on their strengths and limitations to allow readers to rationally select and apply the most suitable method for their specific laboratory setting.
Assuntos
Transferência Adotiva/métodos , Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Imunoterapia/métodos , Neoplasias/imunologia , Linfócitos T/imunologia , Antígenos de Neoplasias/genética , Vacinas Anticâncer/imunologia , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidade Classe I/imunologia , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidade Classe II/imunologia , Humanos , Imunoterapia Adotiva/métodos , Neoplasias/genética , Neoplasias/terapia , Linfócitos T/transplanteRESUMO
Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) targeting neoantigens can mediate tumor regression in selected patients with metastatic epithelial cancer. However, effectively identifying and harnessing neoantigen-reactive T cells for patient treatment remains a challenge and it is unknown whether current methods to detect neoantigen-reactive T cells are missing potentially clinically relevant neoantigen reactivities. We thus investigated whether the detection of neoantigen-reactive TILs could be enhanced by enriching T cells that express PD-1 and/or T cell activation markers followed by microwell culturing to avoid overgrowth of nonreactive T cells. In 6 patients with metastatic epithelial cancer, this method led to the detection of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells targeting 18 and 1 neoantigens, respectively, compared with 6 and 2 neoantigens recognized by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, respectively, when using our standard TIL fragment screening approach. In 2 patients, no recognition of mutated peptides was observed using our conventional screen, while our high-throughput approach led to the identification of 5 neoantigen-reactive T cell receptors (TCRs) against 5 different mutations from one patient and a highly potent MHC class II-restricted KRASG12V-reactive TCR from a second patient. In addition, in a metastatic tumor sample from a patient with serous ovarian cancer, we isolated 3 MHC class II-restricted TCRs targeting the TP53G245S hot-spot mutation. In conclusion, this approach provides a highly sensitive platform to isolate clinically relevant neoantigen-reactive T cells or their TCRs for cancer treatment.
Assuntos
Separação Celular/métodos , Citometria de Fluxo/métodos , Imunoterapia Adotiva/métodos , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral/transplante , Neoplasias/terapia , Adulto , Idoso , Antígenos de Neoplasias/genética , Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/metabolismo , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/metabolismo , Carcinogênese/genética , Feminino , Humanos , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral/imunologia , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral/metabolismo , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Mutação , Neoplasias/genética , Neoplasias/imunologia , Oncogenes/genética , Oncogenes/imunologia , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1/imunologia , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1/metabolismo , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , Células Tumorais CultivadasRESUMO
The use of agents able to modulate the immune system to induce or potentiate its anti-tumour activity is not a new strategy in oncology. However, the development of new agents such as immune checkpoint inhibitors has achieved unprecedented efficacy results in a wide variety of tumours, dramatically changing the landscape of cancer treatment in recent years. Ipilimumab, nivolumab, pembrolizumab or atezolizumab are now standard of care options in several malignancies and new indications are being approved on a regular basis in different tumours. Moreover, there are many other novel immunotherapy strategies that are currently being assessed in clinical trials. Agonists of co-stimulatory signals, adoptive cell therapies, vaccines, virotherapy and others have raised interest as therapeutic options against cancer. In addition, many of these novel approaches are being developed both in monotherapy and as part of combinatory regimes in order to synergize their activity. The results from those studies will help to define the expanding role of immunotherapy in cancer treatment in a forthcoming future.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Monoclonais/uso terapêutico , Vacinas Anticâncer/uso terapêutico , Imunoterapia/métodos , Neoplasias/terapia , Anticorpos Monoclonais/farmacologia , Anticorpos Monoclonais Humanizados/farmacologia , Antígeno B7-H1/antagonistas & inibidores , Antígeno B7-H1/metabolismo , Antígeno CTLA-4/antagonistas & inibidores , Antígeno CTLA-4/metabolismo , Células Dendríticas/imunologia , Humanos , Imunoterapia Adotiva/métodos , Ipilimumab , Neoplasias/imunologia , Nivolumabe , Terapia Viral Oncolítica/métodos , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1/antagonistas & inibidores , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1/metabolismoRESUMO
Purpose: The adoptive transfer of lymphocytes genetically modified to express tumor reactive T-cell receptors (TCR) can mediate tumor regression. Some tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) recognize somatic mutations expressed only in the patient's tumors, and evidence suggests that clinically effective TILs target tumor-specific neoantigens. Here we attempted to isolate neoantigen-reactive TCRs as a prelude to the treatment of patients with autologous T cells genetically modified to express such TCRs.Experimental Design: Mutations expressed by tumors were identified using whole-exome and RNA sequencing. Tandem minigene (TMG) constructs encoding 12-24 mutated gene products were synthesized, each encoding the mutated amino acid flanked by 12 amino acids of the normal protein sequence. TILs were cultured with autologous dendritic cells (DC) transfected with in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNAs encoding TMGs and were evaluated for IFNγ secretion and CD137 expression. Neoantigen-reactive T cells were enriched from TILs by sorting for CD137+ CD8+ T cells and expanded in vitro Dominant TCR α and ß chains were identified in the enriched populations using a combination of 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends, deep sequencing of genomic DNA, PairSeq analysis, and single-cell RT-PCR analysis. Human PBL retrovirally transduced to express the TCRs were evaluated for recognition of relevant neoantigens.Results: We identified 27 TCRs from 6 patients that recognized 14 neoantigens expressed by autologous tumor cells.Conclusions: This strategy provides the means to generate T cells expressing neoantigen-reactive TCRs for use in future adoptive cell transfer immunotherapy trials for patients with cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 23(10); 2491-505. ©2016 AACR.
Assuntos
Imunoterapia Adotiva , Linfócitos do Interstício Tumoral/imunologia , Melanoma/terapia , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Transferência Adotiva/métodos , Antígenos de Neoplasias/genética , Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Células Dendríticas/imunologia , Exoma/genética , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica/genética , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica/imunologia , Sequenciamento de Nucleotídeos em Larga Escala , Humanos , Melanoma/genética , Melanoma/imunologia , Mutação , RNA Mensageiro/genética , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/genética , Membro 9 da Superfamília de Receptores de Fatores de Necrose Tumoral/imunologiaRESUMO
Tumours progress despite being infiltrated by tumour-specific effector T cells. Tumours contain areas of cellular necrosis, which are associated with poor survival in a variety of cancers. Here, we show that necrosis releases intracellular potassium ions into the extracellular fluid of mouse and human tumours, causing profound suppression of T cell effector function. Elevation of the extracellular potassium concentration ([K+]e) impairs T cell receptor (TCR)-driven Akt-mTOR phosphorylation and effector programmes. Potassium-mediated suppression of Akt-mTOR signalling and T cell function is dependent upon the activity of the serine/threonine phosphatase PP2A. Although the suppressive effect mediated by elevated [K+]e is independent of changes in plasma membrane potential (Vm), it requires an increase in intracellular potassium ([K+]i). Accordingly, augmenting potassium efflux in tumour-specific T cells by overexpressing the potassium channel Kv1.3 lowers [K+]i and improves effector functions in vitro and in vivo and enhances tumour clearance and survival in melanoma-bearing mice. These results uncover an ionic checkpoint that blocks T cell function in tumours and identify potential new strategies for cancer immunotherapy.
Assuntos
Cátions Monovalentes/metabolismo , Melanoma/imunologia , Potássio/metabolismo , Linfócitos T/imunologia , Evasão Tumoral/imunologia , Microambiente Tumoral/imunologia , Animais , Humanos , Tolerância Imunológica/imunologia , Imunoterapia/métodos , Canal de Potássio Kv1.3/metabolismo , Masculino , Melanoma/metabolismo , Melanoma/patologia , Melanoma/terapia , Potenciais da Membrana , Camundongos , Necrose , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/imunologia , Receptores de Antígenos de Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Transdução de Sinais , Análise de Sobrevida , Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Serina-Treonina Quinases TOR/metabolismoRESUMO
Immunotherapy treatment of patients with metastatic cancer has assumed a prominent role in the clinic. Durable complete response rates of 20% to 25% are achieved in patients with metastatic melanoma following adoptive cell transfer of T cells derived from metastatic lesions, responses that appear in some patients to be mediated by T cells that predominantly recognize mutated antigens. Here, we provide a detailed analysis of the reactivity of T cells administered to a patient with metastatic melanoma who exhibited a complete response for over 3 years after treatment. Over 4,000 nonsynonymous somatic mutations were identified by whole-exome sequence analysis of the patient's autologous normal and tumor cell DNA. Autologous B cells transfected with 720 mutated minigenes corresponding to the most highly expressed tumor cell transcripts were then analyzed for their ability to stimulate the administered T cells. Autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes recognized 10 distinct mutated gene products, but not the corresponding wild-type products, each of which was recognized in the context of one of three different MHC class I restriction elements expressed by the patient. Detailed clonal analysis revealed that 9 of the top 20 most prevalent clones present in the infused T cells, comprising approximately 24% of the total cells, recognized mutated antigens. Thus, we have identified and enriched mutation-reactive T cells and suggest that such analyses may lead to the development of more effective therapies for the treatment of patients with metastatic cancer. Cancer Immunol Res; 4(8); 669-78. ©2016 AACR.