Anti-HER2 induced myeloid cell alterations correspond with increasing vascular maturation in a murine model of HER2+ breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Therapy targeted to the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) is used in combination with cytotoxic therapy in treatment of HER2+ breast cancer. Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets HER2, has been shown pre-clinically to induce vascular changes that can increase delivery of chemotherapy. To quantify the role of immune modulation in treatment-induced vascular changes, this study identifies temporal changes in myeloid cell infiltration with corresponding vascular alterations in a preclinical model of HER2+ breast cancer following trastuzumab treatment. METHODS: HER2+ tumor-bearing mice (N = 46) were treated with trastuzumab or saline. After extraction, half of each tumor was analyzed by immunophenotyping using flow cytometry. The other half was quantified by immunohistochemistry to characterize macrophage infiltration (F4/80), vascularity (CD31 and α-SMA), proliferation (Ki67) and cellularity (H&E). Additional mice (N = 10) were used to quantify differences in tumor cytokines between control and treated groups. RESULTS: Immunophenotyping showed an increase in macrophage infiltration 24 h after trastuzumab treatment (P ≤ 0.05). With continued trastuzumab treatment, the M1 macrophage population increased (P = 0.02). Increases in vessel maturation index (i.e., the ratio of α-SMA to CD31) positively correlated with increases in tumor infiltrating M1 macrophages (R = 0.33, P = 0.04). Decreases in VEGF-A and increases in inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1ß, CCL21, CCL7, and CXCL10) were observed with continued trastuzumab treatment (P ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results from this study in a murine model of HER2+ breast cancer show correlations between immune modulation and vascular changes, and reveals the potential for anti-HER2 therapy to reprogram immunosuppressive components of the tumor microenvironment. The quantification of immune modulation in HER2+ breast cancer, as well as the mechanistic insight of vascular alterations after anti-HER2 treatment, represent novel contributions and warrant further assessment for potential clinical translation.

High temporal resolution of glucosyltransferase dependent and independent effects of Clostridium difficile toxins across multiple cell types.

BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile toxins A and B (TcdA and TcdB), considered to be essential for C. difficile infection, affect the morphology of several cell types with different potencies and timing. However, morphological changes over various time scales are poorly characterized. The toxins' glucosyltransferase domains are critical to their deleterious effects, and cell responses to glucosyltransferase-independent activities are incompletely understood. By tracking morphological changes of multiple cell types to C. difficile toxins with high temporal resolution, cellular responses to TcdA, TcdB, and a glucosyltransferase-deficient TcdB (gdTcdB) are elucidated. RESULTS: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells, J774 macrophage-like cells, and four epithelial cell lines (HCT8, T84, CHO, and immortalized mouse cecal epithelial cells) were treated with TcdA, TcdB, gdTcdB. Impedance across cell cultures was measured to track changes in cell morphology. Metrics from impedance data, developed to quantify rapid and long-lasting responses, produced standard curves with wide dynamic ranges that defined cell line sensitivities. Except for T84 cells, all cell lines were most sensitive to TcdB. J774 macrophages stretched and increased in size in response to TcdA and TcdB but not gdTcdB. High concentrations of TcdB and gdTcdB (>10 ng/ml) greatly reduced macrophage viability. In HCT8 cells, gdTcdB did not induce a rapid cytopathic effect, yet it delayed TcdA and TcdB's rapid effects. gdTcdB did not clearly delay TcdA or TcdB's toxin-induced effects on macrophages. CONCLUSIONS: Epithelial and endothelial cells have similar responses to toxins yet differ in timing and degree. Relative potencies of TcdA and TcdB in mouse epithelial cells in vitro do not correlate with potencies in vivo. TcdB requires glucosyltransferase activity to cause macrophages to spread, but cell death from high TcdB concentrations is glucosyltransferase-independent. Competition experiments with gdTcdB in epithelial cells confirm common TcdA and TcdB mechanisms, yet different responses of macrophages to TcdA and TcdB suggest different, additional mechanisms or targets in these cells. This first-time, precise quantification of the response of multiple cell lines to TcdA and TcdB provides a comparative framework for delineating the roles of different cell types and toxin-host interactions.

Quantifying the Effects of Combination Trastuzumab and Radiation Therapy in Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Breast Cancer.

Background: Trastuzumab induces cell cycle arrest in HER2-overexpressing cells and demonstrates potential in radiosensitizing cancer cells. The purpose of this study is to quantify combination trastuzumab and radiotherapy to determine their synergy. Methods: In vitro, HER2+ cancer cells were treated with trastuzumab, radiation, or their combination, and imaged to evaluate treatment kinetics. In vivo, HER2+ tumor-bearing mice were treated with trastuzumab and radiation, and assessed longitudinally. An additional cohort was treated and sacrificed to quantify CD45, CD31, α-SMA, and hypoxia. Results: The interaction index revealed the additive effects of trastuzumab and radiation in vitro in HER2+ cell lines. Furthermore, the results revealed significant differences in tumor response when treated with radiation (p < 0.001); however, no difference was seen in the combination groups when trastuzumab was added to radiotherapy (p = 0.56). Histology revealed increases in CD45 staining in tumors receiving trastuzumab (p < 0.05), indicating potential increases in immune infiltration. Conclusions: The in vitro results showed the additive effect of combination trastuzumab and radiotherapy. The in vivo results showed the potential to achieve similar efficacy of radiotherapy with a reduced dose when combined with trastuzumab. If trastuzumab and low-dose radiotherapy induce greater tumor kill than a higher dose of radiotherapy, combination therapy can achieve a similar reduction in tumor burden.

Longitudinal FRET Imaging of Glucose and Lactate Dynamics and Response to Therapy in Breast Cancer Cells.

PURPOSE: The reprogramming of cellular metabolism is a hallmark of cancer. The ability to noninvasively assay glucose and lactate concentrations in cancer cells would improve our understanding of the dynamic changes in metabolic activity accompanying tumor initiation, progression, and response to therapy. Unfortunately, common approaches for measuring these nutrient levels are invasive or interrupt cell growth. This study transfected FRET reporters quantifying glucose and lactate concentration into breast cancer cell lines to study nutrient dynamics and response to therapy. PROCEDURES: Two FRET reporters, one assaying glucose concentration and one assaying lactate concentration, were stably transfected into the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. Correlation between FRET measurements and ligand concentration were measured using a confocal microscope and a cell imaging plate reader. Longitudinal changes in glucose and lactate concentration were measured in response to treatment with CoCl2, cytochalasin B, and phloretin which, respectively, induce hypoxia, block glucose uptake, and block glucose and lactate transport. RESULTS: The FRET ratio from the glucose and lactate reporters increased with increasing concentration of the corresponding ligand (p < 0.005 and p < 0.05, respectively). The FRET ratio from both reporters was found to decrease over time for high initial concentrations of the ligand (p < 0.01). Significant differences in the FRET ratio corresponding to metabolic inhibition were found when cells were treated with glucose/lactate transporter inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: FRET reporters can track intracellular glucose and lactate dynamics in cancer cells, providing insight into tumor metabolism and response to therapy over time.

Quantifying Tumor Heterogeneity via MRI Habitats to Characterize Microenvironmental Alterations in HER2+ Breast Cancer.

This study identifies physiological habitats using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to elucidate intertumoral differences and characterize microenvironmental response to targeted and cytotoxic therapy. BT-474 human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2+) breast tumors were imaged before and during treatment (trastuzumab, paclitaxel) with diffusion-weighted MRI and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI to measure tumor cellularity and vascularity, respectively. Tumors were stained for anti-CD31, anti-ɑSMA, anti-CD45, anti-F4/80, anti-pimonidazole, and H&E. MRI data was clustered to identify and label each habitat in terms of vascularity and cellularity. Pre-treatment habitat composition was used stratify tumors into two "tumor imaging phenotypes" (Type 1, Type 2). Type 1 tumors showed significantly higher percent tumor volume of the high-vascularity high-cellularity (HV-HC) habitat compared to Type 2 tumors, and significantly lower volume of low-vascularity high-cellularity (LV-HC) and low-vascularity low-cellularity (LV-LC) habitats. Tumor phenotypes showed significant differences in treatment response, in both changes in tumor volume and physiological composition. Significant positive correlations were found between histological stains and tumor habitats. These findings suggest that the differential baseline imaging phenotypes can predict response to therapy. Specifically, the Type 1 phenotype indicates increased sensitivity to targeted or cytotoxic therapy compared to Type 2 tumors.

Experimentally-driven mathematical modeling to improve combination targeted and cytotoxic therapy for HER2+ breast cancer.

The goal of this study is to experimentally and computationally investigate combination trastuzumab-paclitaxel therapies and identify potential synergistic effects due to sequencing of the therapies with in vitro imaging and mathematical modeling. Longitudinal alterations in cell confluence are reported for an in vitro model of BT474 HER2+ breast cancer cells following various dosages and timings of paclitaxel and trastuzumab combination regimens. Results of combination drug regimens are evaluated for drug interaction relationships based on order, timing, and quantity of dose of the drugs. Altering the order of treatments, with the same total therapeutic dose, provided significant changes in overall cell confluence (p < 0.001). Two mathematical models are introduced that are constrained by the in vitro data to simulate the tumor cell response to the individual therapies. A collective model merging the two individual drug response models was designed to investigate the potential mechanisms of synergy for paclitaxel-trastuzumab combinations. This collective model shows increased synergy for regimens where trastuzumab is administered prior to paclitaxel and suggests trastuzumab accelerates the cytotoxic effects of paclitaxel. The synergy derived from the model is found to be in agreement with the combination index, where both indicate a spectrum of additive and synergistic interactions between the two drugs dependent on their dose order. The combined in vitro results and development of a mathematical model of drug synergy has potential to evaluate and improve standard-of-care combination therapies in cancer.

The effects of IKK-beta inhibition on early NF-kappa-B activation and transcription of downstream genes.

Small molecule approaches targeting the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) pathway, a regulator of inflammation, have thus far proven unsuccessful in the clinic in part due to the complex pleiotropic nature of this network. Downstream effects depend on multiple factors including stimulus-specific temporal patterns of NF-kB activity. Despite considerable advances, genome-level impact of changes in temporal NF-kB activity caused by inhibitors and their stimulus dependency remains unexplored. This study evaluates the effects of pathway inhibitors on early NF-κB activity and downstream gene transcription. 3T3 fibroblasts were treated with SC-514, an inhibitor targeted to the NF-kB pathway, prior to stimulation with interleukin 1 beta (IL-1ß) or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). Stimulus induced NF-κB activation was quantified using immunofluorescence imaging over 90-minutes and gene expression tracked over 6-hours using mRNA TagSeq. When stimulated with IL-1ß or TNF-α, significant differences (P < 0.05, two-way ANOVA), were observed in the temporal profiles of NF-κB activation between treated and untreated cells. Increasing numbers of differentially expressed genes (P < 0.01) were observed at higher inhibitor concentrations. Individual gene expression profiles varied in an inhibitor concentration and stimulus-dependent manner. The results in this study demonstrate small molecule inhibitors acting on pleiotropic pathway components can alter signal dynamics in a stimulus-dependent manner and affect gene response in complex ways.

Mathematical modelling of trastuzumab-induced immune response in an in vivo murine model of HER2+ breast cancer.

The goal of this study is to develop an integrated, mathematical-experimental approach for understanding the interactions between the immune system and the effects of trastuzumab on breast cancer that overexpresses the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2+). A system of coupled, ordinary differential equations was constructed to describe the temporal changes in tumour growth, along with intratumoural changes in the immune response, vascularity, necrosis and hypoxia. The mathematical model is calibrated with serially acquired experimental data of tumour volume, vascularity, necrosis and hypoxia obtained from either imaging or histology from a murine model of HER2+ breast cancer. Sensitivity analysis shows that model components are sensitive for 12 of 13 parameters, but accounting for uncertainty in the parameter values, model simulations still agree with the experimental data. Given theinitial conditions, the mathematical model predicts an increase in the immune infiltrates over time in the treated animals. Immunofluorescent staining results are presented that validate this prediction by showing an increased co-staining of CD11c and F4/80 (proteins expressed by dendritic cells and/or macrophages) in the total tissue for the treated tumours compared to the controls ($p < 0.03$). We posit that the proposed mathematical-experimental approach can be used to elucidate driving interactions between the trastuzumab-induced responses in the tumour and the immune system that drive the stabilization of vasculature while simultaneously decreasing tumour growth-conclusions revealed by the mathematical model that were not deducible from the experimental data alone.