A Phase I/II Trial of Cetuximab in Combination with Interleukin-12 Administered to Patients with Unresectable Primary or Recurrent Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

PURPOSE: mAbs including cetuximab can induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and cytokine production mediated via innate immune cells with the ability to recognize mAb-coated tumors. Preclinical modeling has shown that costimulation of natural killer (NK) cells via the Fc receptor and the IL12 receptor promotes NK-cell-mediated ADCC and production of cytokines. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This phase I/II trial evaluated the combination of cetuximab with IL12 for the treatment of EGFR-expressing head and neck cancer. Treatment consisted of cetuximab 500 mg/m2 i.v. every 2 weeks with either 0.2 mcg/kg or 0.3 mcg/kg IL12 s.c. on days 2 and 5 of the 2-week cycle, beginning with cycle 2. Correlative studies from blood draws obtained prior to treatment and during therapy included measurement of ADCC, serum cytokine, and chemokine analysis, determination of NK cell FcγRIIIa polymorphisms, and an analysis of myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) frequency in peripheral blood. RESULTS: The combination of cetuximab and IL12 was well tolerated. No clinical responses were observed, however, 48% of patients exhibited prolonged progression-free survival (PFS; average of 6.5 months). Compared with patients that did not exhibit clinical benefit, patients with PFS >100 days exhibited increased ADCC as therapy continued compared with baseline, greater production of IFNγ, IP-10, and TNFα at the beginning of cycle 8 compared with baseline values and had a predominance of monocytic MDSCs versus granulocytic MDSCs prior to therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Further investigation of IL12 as an immunomodulatory agent in combination with cetuximab in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is warranted.

MicroRNA profiling of patient plasma for clinical trials using bioinformatics and biostatistical approaches.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs that function to repress translation of mRNA transcripts and contribute to the development of cancer. We hypothesized that miRNA array-based technologies work best for miRNA profiling of patient-derived plasma samples when the techniques and patient populations are precisely defined. METHODS: Plasma samples were obtained from five sources: melanoma clinical trial of interferon and bortezomib (12), purchased normal donor plasma samples (four), gastrointestinal tumor bank (nine), melanoma tumor bank (ten), or aged-matched normal donors (eight) for the tumor bank samples. Plasma samples were purified for miRNAs and quantified using NanoString® arrays or by the company Exiqon. Standard biostatistical array approaches were utilized for data analysis and compared to a rank-based analytical approach. RESULTS: With the prospectively collected samples, fewer plasma samples demonstrated visible hemolysis due to increased attention to eliminating factors, such as increased pressure during phlebotomy, small gauge needles, and multiple punctures. Cancer patients enrolled in a melanoma clinical study exhibited the clearest pattern of miRNA expression as compared to normal donors in both the rank-based analytical method and standard biostatistical array approaches. For the patients from the tumor banks, fewer miRNAs (<5) were found to be differentially expressed and the false positive rate was relatively high. CONCLUSION: In order to obtain consistent results for NanoString miRNA arrays, it is imperative that patient cohorts have similar clinical characteristics with a uniform sample preparation procedure. A clinical workflow has been optimized to collect patient samples to study plasma miRNAs.

Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Express Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase and Can Be Depleted in Tumor-Bearing Hosts by Ibrutinib Treatment.

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are a heterogeneous group of immature myeloid cells that expand in tumor-bearing hosts in response to soluble factors produced by tumor and stromal cells. MDSC expansion has been linked to loss of immune effector cell function and reduced efficacy of immune-based cancer therapies, highlighting the MDSC population as an attractive therapeutic target. Ibrutinib, an irreversible inhibitor of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) and IL2-inducible T-cell kinase (ITK), is in clinical use for the treatment of B-cell malignancies. Here, we report that BTK is expressed by murine and human MDSCs, and that ibrutinib is able to inhibit BTK phosphorylation in these cells. Treatment of MDSCs with ibrutinib significantly impaired nitric oxide production and cell migration. In addition, ibrutinib inhibited in vitro generation of human MDSCs and reduced mRNA expression of indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase, an immunosuppressive factor. Treatment of mice bearing EMT6 mammary tumors with ibrutinib resulted in reduced frequency of MDSCs in both the spleen and tumor. Ibrutinib treatment also resulted in a significant reduction of MDSCs in wild-type mice bearing B16F10 melanoma tumors, but not in X-linked immunodeficiency mice (XID) harboring a BTK mutation, suggesting that BTK inhibition plays an important role in the observed reduction of MDSCs in vivo Finally, ibrutinib significantly enhanced the efficacy of anti-PD-L1 (CD274) therapy in a murine breast cancer model. Together, these results demonstrate that ibrutinib modulates MDSC function and generation, revealing a potential strategy for enhancing immune-based therapies in solid malignancies. Cancer Res; 76(8); 2125-36. ©2016 AACR.