P090
Reprogramming the immunosuppressive footprint of tumor-associated myeloid cells enhances gene immunotherapy of cancer based on PD-L1/PD-1 blockade
E Blanco(1,2) N Silva(2) A Bocanegra(1) L Chocarro(1) A Procopio(3) K Ausín(4) J Fernández(4) H Arasanz(1,5) L Fernández(1) N Razquin(6) A Igea(2) M Garnica(1) M Echaide(1) R Vera(5) D Escors(1) C Smerdou(2) G Kochan(1)
1:Oncoimmunology Unit, Navarrabiomed-Fundación Miguel Servet, Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Hospital Universitario de Navarra (HUN), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA).; 2:Division of Gene Therapy and Regulation of Gene Expression, Cima Universidad de Navarra, Cancer Center Clínica Universidad Navarra (CCUN), and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdISNA), Pamplona,Spain.; 3:Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.; 4:Proteored-ISCIII, Proteomics Platform, Navarrabiomed, Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra (CHN), Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), IdISNA, Irunlarrea 3, 31008 Pamplona, Spain.; 5:Medical Oncology Unit, Hospital Universitario de Navarra (HUN), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA); 6:Department of Gene Therapy and Regulation of Gene Expression, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra (UNAV), Pamplona, Spain.
Therapies based on PD1/PD-L1 blockade have shown remarkable clinical outcomes and durable responses, but are not efficient in a significant number of patients. One approach to increase the potency of immunotherapy is to modulate the tumor microenvironment (TME) by reprogramming myeloid cells to stimulate anti-cancer activity, since these cells constitute the major TME component. In this work we evaluated the capacities of a chemical compound (O) to reprogram tumor-associated immunosuppressive myeloid cells as a means to increase the potency of immunotherapy. Compound O caused a major global reprogramming of monocytic, granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and tumor-associated macrophages towards immunostimulatory subsets. Differential quantitative proteomics uncovered activated and down-modulated pathways at high resolution for each subset which regulated major differentiation programs. Compound O significantly potentiated the capacities of myeloid cells to activate T-cells. Furthermore, we confirmed the immunostimulatory effects of compound O in myeloid cells from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in vitro. Finally, compound O was able to enhance the antitumor properties of PD-1 blockade immunotherapies, based on either systemic anti-PD-1 antibody administration, or local intratumor antibody delivery using a self-amplifying RNA vector based on Semliki Forest virus. This activity was observed in preclinical models of lung cancer intrinsically resistant to immunotherapies and in colon cancer. Combination therapies decreased tumor infiltration by immunosuppressive myeloid cells and increased dendritic cell recruitment within draining lymph nodes, leading to systemic antitumor T-cell responses. These preclinical results suggest that compound O could be a potential adjuvant for immunotherapies of lung and colon cancer.
