Exploiting Preexisting Immunity to Enhance Oncolytic Cancer Immunotherapy
- 15 June 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Cancer Research
- Vol. 80 (12), 2575-2585
- https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-2062
Abstract
Because of the high coverage of international vaccination programs, most people worldwide have been vaccinated against common pathogens, leading to acquired pathogen-specific immunity with a robust memory T-cell repertoire. Although CD8(+) antitumor cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are the preferred effectors of cancer immunotherapy, CD4(+) T-cell help is also required for an optimal antitumor immune response to occur. Hence, we investigated whether the pathogen-related CD4(+) T-cell memory populations could be reengaged to support the CTLs, converting a weak primary antitumor immune response into a stronger secondary one. To this end, we used our PeptiCRAd technology that consists of an oncolytic adenovirus coated with MHC-I-restricted tumor-specific peptides and developed it further by introducing pathogen-specific MHC-II-restricted peptides. Mice preimmunized with tetanus vaccine were challenged with B16.OVA tumors and treated with the newly developed hybrid TT-OVA-PeptiCRAd containing both tetanus toxoid- and tumor-specific peptides. Treatment with the hybrid PeptiCRAd significantly enhanced antitumor efficacy and induced TT-specific, CD40 ligand-expressing CD4(+) T helper cells and maturation of antigen-presenting cells. Importantly, this approach could be extended to naturally occurring tumor peptides (both tumor-associated antigens and neoantigens), as well as to other pathogens beyond tetanus, highlighting the usefulness of this technique to take full advantage of CD4(+) memory T-cell repertoires when designing immunotherapeutic treatment regimens. Finally, the antitumor effect was even more prominent when combined with the immune checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD-1, strengthening the rationale behind combination therapy with oncolytic viruses. Significance: These findings establish a novel technology that enhances oncolytic cancer immunotherapy by capitalizing on pre-acquired immunity to pathogens to convert a weak antitumor immune response into a much stronger one.Funding Information
- European Research Council ((H2020)/ERC-CoG-2015, 681219)
- Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation (19072019)
This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit:
- PD-1 blockade induces responses by inhibiting adaptive immune resistanceNature, 2014
- Localized Oncolytic Virotherapy Overcomes Systemic Tumor Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Blockade ImmunotherapyScience Translational Medicine, 2014
- Immune Response Is an Important Aspect of the Antitumor Effect Produced by a CD40L-Encoding Oncolytic AdenovirusCancer Research, 2012
- COOPERATION BETWEEN CD4+AND CD8+T CELLS: When, Where, and HowAnnual Review of Immunology, 2006
- The Tim-3 ligand galectin-9 negatively regulates T helper type 1 immunityNature Immunology, 2005
- Helping the CD8+ T-cell responseNature Reviews Immunology, 2004
- Identification of Tyrosinase-related Protein 2 as a Tumor Rejection Antigen for the B16 MelanomaThe Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1997
- Impairment of antigen-specific T-cell priming in mice lacking CD40 ligandNature, 1995
- Vaccination with irradiated tumor cells engineered to secrete murine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor stimulates potent, specific, and long-lasting anti-tumor immunity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1993
- Introduction of soluble protein into the class I pathway of antigen processing and presentationCell, 1988