scholarly journals Immune Checkpoints Contribute Corneal Immune Privilege: Implications for Dry Eye Associated with Checkpoint Inhibitors

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3962
Author(s):  
Junko Hori ◽  
Tomoyuki Kunishige ◽  
Yuji Nakano

The eye is provided with immune protection against pathogens in a manner that greatly reduces the threat of inflammation-induced vision loss. Immune-mediated inflammation and allograft rejection are greatly reduced in the eye, a phenomenon called ‘immune privilege’. Corneal tissue has inherent immune privilege properties with underlying three mechanisms: (1) anatomical, cellular, and molecular barriers in the cornea; (2) an immunosuppressive microenvironment; and (3) tolerance related to regulatory T cells and anterior chamber-associated immune deviation. This review describes the molecular mechanisms of the immunosuppressive microenvironment and regulatory T cells in the cornea that have been elucidated from animal models of ocular inflammation, especially those involving corneal transplantation, it also provides an update on immune checkpoint molecules in corneal and systemic immune regulation, and its relevance for dry eye associated with checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-32
Author(s):  
Piyawat Komolmit

การรักษามะเร็งด้วยแนวความคิดของการกระตุ้นให้ภูมิต้านทานของร่างกายไปทำลายเซลล์มะเร็งนั้น ปัจจุบันได้รับการพิสูจน์ชัดว่าวิธีการนี้สามารถหยุดยั้งการแพร่กระจายของเซลล์มะเร็ง โดยไม่ก่อให้เกิดภาวะแทรกซ้อนทางปฏิกิริยาภูมิต้านทานต่ออวัยวะส่วนอื่นที่รุนแรง สามารถนำมาใช้ทางคลินิกได้ ยุคของการรักษามะเร็งกำลังเปลี่ยนจากยุคของยาเคมีบำบัดเข้าสู่การรักษาด้วยภูมิต้านทาน หรือ immunotherapy ยากลุ่ม Immune checkpoint inhibitors โดยเฉพาะ PD-1 กับ CTLA-4 inhibitors จะเข้ามามีบทบาทในการรักษามะเร็งตับในระยะเวลาอันใกล้ จำเป็นแพทย์จะต้องมีความรู้ความเข้าใจในพื้นฐานของ immune checkpoints และยาที่ไปยับยั้งโมเลกุลเหล่านี้ Figure 1 เมื่อ T cells รับรู้แอนทิเจนผ่านทาง TCR/MHC จะมีปฏิกิริยาระหว่าง co-receptors หรือ immune checkpoints กับ ligands บน APCs หรือ เซลล์มะเร็ง ทั้งแบบกระตุ้น (co-stimulation) หรือยับยั้ง (co-inhibition) TCR = T cell receptor, MHC = major histocompatibility complex


Author(s):  
L. Sams ◽  
S. Kruger ◽  
V. Heinemann ◽  
D. Bararia ◽  
S. Haebe ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose This pilot study aimed on generating insight on alterations in circulating immune cells during the use of FOLFIRINOX and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Patients and methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated before and 30 days after initiation of chemotherapy from 20 patients with advanced PDAC. Regulatory T cells (FoxP3+) and immune checkpoints (PD-1 and TIM-3) were analyzed by flow cytometry and immunological changes were correlated with clinical outcome. Results Heterogeneous changes during chemotherapy were observed in circulating T-cell subpopulations with a pronounced effect on PD-1+ CD4+/CD8+ T cells. An increase in FoxP3+ or PD-1+ T cells had no significant effect on survival. An increase in TIM3+/CD8+ (but not TIM3+/CD4+) T cells was associated with a significant inferior outcome: median progression-free survival in the subgroup with an increase of TIM-3+/CD8+ T cells was 6.0 compared to 14.0 months in patients with a decrease/no change (p = 0.026); corresponding median overall survival was 13.0 and 20.0 months (p = 0.011), respectively. Conclusions Chemotherapy with FOLFIRNOX or gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel induces variable changes in circulating T-cell populations that may provide prognostic information in PDAC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Kolb ◽  
Umasankar De ◽  
Sajid Khan ◽  
Yuewan Luo ◽  
Myung-Chul Kim ◽  
...  

AbstractRegulatory T cells (Tregs) play an important role in maintaining immune homeostasis and, within tumors, their upregulation is common and promotes an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Therapeutic strategies that can eliminate Tregs in the tumor (i.e., therapies that do not run the risk of affecting normal tissues), are urgently needed for the development of cancer immunotherapies. Here we report our discovery of B-cell lymphoma extra-large (BCL-XL) as a potential molecular target of tumor-infiltrating (TI) Tregs. We show that pharmacological degradation of BCL-XL using a newly developed platelet-sparing BCL-XL Proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) induces the apoptosis of TI-Tregs and the activation of TI-CD8+ T cells. Moreover, these activities result in an effective suppression of syngeneic tumor growth in immunocompetent, but not in immunodeficient or CD8+ T cell-depleted mice. Notably, treatment with BCL-XL PROTAC does not cause detectable damage within several normal tissues or thrombocytopenia. These findings identify BCL-XL as a target in the elimination of TI-Tregs as a component of cancer immunotherapies, and that the BCL-XL-specific PROTAC has the potential to be developed as a therapeutic for cancer immunotherapy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Zhao ◽  
Cangang Zhang ◽  
Yanan Zhu ◽  
Xi Ding ◽  
Yikun Zhou ◽  
...  

The immunosuppressive microenvironment is associated with poor prognosis in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC); however, the molecular mechanisms involved are unknown. Among triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell (TREM) family, we found that TREM1 expression in PTC was significantly higher than that in normal tissues. TREM1 overexpression was associated with BRAFV600E profiles and advanced tumor stages. Furthermore, TREM1 mRNA expression was negatively correlated with promoter methylation status. Specifically, hypomethylation of CpG site cg06196379 in the TREM1 promoter was related with poor patient disease free survival (DFS) and a high PTC recurrence rate. Mechanistically, TREM1 was mainly expressed in malignant epithelial cells but not macrophages in PTC by single-cell analysis. PTC tissues with high TREM1 levels had enhanced infiltration of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and decreased infiltration of CD8+ T cells. Our study confirms that hypomethylation-mediated overexpression of TREM1 in PTC cells promotes an immunosuppressive microenvironment by enhancing Treg infiltration. We recommend the future use of therapeutic strategy targeting TREM1 for the treatment of PTC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A305-A305
Author(s):  
Kathryn Appleton ◽  
Katy Lassahn ◽  
Ashley Elrod ◽  
Tessa DesRochers

BackgroundCancerous cells can utilize immune checkpoints to escape T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Agents that target PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA4 are collectively deemed immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), and many have been approved for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma. Unfortunately, many patients do not respond to these therapies and often experience disease progression. Immunohistochemistry assays to predict response to ICIs have been inconsistent in their readouts and often patients with low expression levels respond to ICIs. Understanding the determinants of ICI response in individual patients is critical for improving the clinical success of this drug class. Using patient-derived spheroids from NSCLC and melanoma primary tissue, we developed a multi-plexed assay for detecting ICI efficacy.MethodsNine NSCLC and 11 melanoma primary tumor samples were dissociated to single cells, classified for immune checkpoint expression and cell content by flow cytometry, and seeded for spheroid formation. Spheroids were treated with pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolizumab, ipilimumab or durvalumab across a range of concentrations and monitored for cytotoxicity at 24-hours and viability at 72-hours by multiplexing CellTox™ Green Cytotoxicity Assay and CellTiter-Glo® 3D Cell Viability Assay. IFNγ and granzyme B secretion was assessed using Luminex technology. ICI response was evaluated by determining the concentration-response relationship for all three read-outs.ResultsIncreased IFNγ and granzyme B were detected for every ICI in one or more patient samples. ICI-induced IFNγ secretion inversely correlated with PD-1+ immune cells. Durvalumab was significantly more cytotoxic for both NSCLC and melanoma spheroids compared to the other ICIs and significantly reduced spheroid viability with mean spheroid survival decreasing to 19.5% for NSCLC and 58.2% for melanoma. We evaluated if there was an association between durvalumab response and cell composition and found that percent spheroid survival significantly correlated with CD8+ T-cells for both NSCLC (r=-0.7920, p=0.0191) and melanoma (r=-0.6918, p=0.0390). Furthermore, CD8+ T-cells correlated with durvalumab-induced granzyme B secretion for NSCLC (r=-0.7645, p=0.0271) and melanoma (r=-0.7419, p=0.0221).ConclusionsIn this study we show ICI-specific increases in immune-related analytes in a concentration-dependent manner for NSCLC and melanoma patient-derived spheroids. We detected spheroid cytotoxicity following short term ICI treatment which closely mirrored decreased spheroid viability at a later timepoint. Finally, we can decipher response mechanisms as exemplified by durvalumab-induced granzyme B secretion correlating with the presence of CD8+ T-cells which results in reduced spheroid viability for both tested cancer indications.


2022 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 732
Author(s):  
Katrin Peckert-Maier ◽  
Dmytro Royzman ◽  
Pia Langguth ◽  
Anita Marosan ◽  
Astrid Strack ◽  
...  

Chronic inflammatory diseases and transplant rejection represent major challenges for modern health care. Thus, identification of immune checkpoints that contribute to resolution of inflammation is key to developing novel therapeutic agents for those conditions. In recent years, the CD83 (cluster of differentiation 83) protein has emerged as an interesting potential candidate for such a “pro-resolution” therapy. This molecule occurs in a membrane-bound and a soluble isoform (mCD83 and sCD83, respectively), both of which are involved in resolution of inflammation. Originally described as a maturation marker on dendritic cells (DCs), mCD83 is also expressed by activated B and T cells as well as regulatory T cells (Tregs) and controls turnover of MHC II molecules in the thymus, and thereby positive selection of CD4+ T cells. Additionally, it serves to confine overshooting (auto-)immune responses. Consequently, animals with a conditional deletion of CD83 in DCs or regulatory T cells suffer from impaired resolution of inflammation. Pro-resolving effects of sCD83 became evident in pre-clinical autoimmune and transplantation models, where application of sCD83 reduced disease symptoms and enhanced allograft survival, respectively. Here, we summarize recent advances regarding CD83-mediated resolution of inflammatory responses, its binding partners as well as induced signaling pathways, and emphasize its therapeutic potential for future clinical trials.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. E733-E742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronit Mazor ◽  
Emily M. King ◽  
Masanori Onda ◽  
Nicolas Cuburu ◽  
Selamawit Addissie ◽  
...  

Protein-based drugs are very active in treating cancer, but their efficacy can be limited by the formation of neutralizing antidrug antibodies (ADAs). Recombinant immunotoxins are proteins that are very effective in patients with leukemia, where immunity is suppressed, but induce ADAs, which compromise their activity, in patients with intact immunity. Here we induced a specific, durable, and transferable immune tolerance to recombinant immunotoxins by combining them with nanoparticles containing rapamycin (SVP-R). SVP-R mitigated the formation of inhibitory ADAs in naïve and sensitized mice, resulting in restoration of antitumor activity. The immune tolerance is mediated by colocalization of the SVP-R and immunotoxin to dendritic cells and macrophages in the spleen and is abrogated by depletion of regulatory T cells. Tolerance induced by SVPs was not blocked by checkpoint inhibitors or costimulatory agonist monoclonal antibodies that by themselves enhance ADA formation.


Author(s):  
Joana G. Rodrigues ◽  
Henrique O. Duarte ◽  
Celso A. Reis ◽  
Joana Gomes

Aberrant cell surface glycosylation signatures are currently known to actively drive the neoplastic transformation of healthy cells. By disrupting the homeostatic functions of their protein carriers, cancer-associated glycans mechanistically underpin several molecular hallmarks of human malignancy. Furthermore, such aberrant glycan structures play key roles in the acquisition of molecular resistance to targeted therapeutic agents, which compromises their clinical efficacy, by modulating tumour cell aggressiveness and supporting the establishment of an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Recent advances in the study of the tumour cell glycoproteome have unravelled previously elusive molecular mechanisms of therapeutic resistance, guided the rational design of novel personalized therapeutic strategies, and may further improve the clinical performance of currently approved anti-cancer targeted agents. In this review, we highlight the impact of glycosylation in cancer targeted therapy, with particular focus on receptor tyrosine kinase-targeted therapy, immune checkpoints blockade therapy, and current developments on therapeutic strategies directed to glycan-binding proteins and other innovative glycan therapeutic strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e21552-e21552
Author(s):  
Yu Chen ◽  
Liu Jun ◽  
Jing Lin ◽  
Xuefeng Wang ◽  
Xiao-bin Zheng ◽  
...  

e21552 Background: Melanoma is generally regarded as an immunogenic type of tumor that will respond to immune checkpoint therapy. However, melanoma tumors with CCND1 amplification respond poorly to checkpoint therapy. Further understanding of how CCND1 amplification modifies the effect of checkpoint therapy is necessary to design future clinical trials. Methods: We used the data from the Geneplus Institute (n = 302), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) (n = 367),and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) (n = 350) to identify the incidence of CCND1 amplification and the relationship between CCND1 amplification and survival in melanoma patients and explored molecular mechanisms. Results: The frequency of CCND1 amplification co-occurring with BRAF V600, NRAS, NF1, and KIT mutations was low in these three cohorts. Data from TCGA did not show a statistically significant correlation between CCND1 amplification levels and prognosis of melanoma patients irrespective of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In contrast, we found opposite results using the MSKCC cohort where CCND1 amplification was an unfavorable prognostic factor for melanoma patients. This was especially true for patients received ICIs who were harboring a high tumor mutation burden (TMB). The TCGA data showed that CCND1 amplification were related to a higher proportion of immunosuppressive cells (Treg cells and M2 macrophages) and a lower proportion of immunity boosting cells (follicular helper T-cells, naive B-cells, CD8+ T-cells). Furthermore, GSEA analysis from the TCGA database suggests that the signaling pathways such as oxidative phosphorylation, reactive oxygen species, adipogenesis, fatty acid metabolism, DNA repair, and myc targets were differentially enriched in melanoma tumors with CCND1 amplification. Finally, we found that angiogenesis related molecules (HIF1A, VEGFA, VEGFR1, FGF2, FGFR1, FGFR4, HGF, PDGFA, PDGFRA, ANGPT1, and ANGPT2) were remarkable decreased in a CCND1 High Amplification group from the TCGA database. Conclusions: Melanoma with CCND1 amplificationis an independent genomic subtype associated with a poor prognosis, an immunosuppressive TME, activated oxidative and lipid metabolism, and down-regulated angiogenesis. Taken together, avoiding ICIs and antiangiogenic agents, while employing CDK4/6 inhibitors alone or in combination with ICIs, targeting oxidative and lipid metabolism pathway may be effective and promising therapeutic strategies for melanoma patients harboring CCND1 amplification.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raju K. Vaddepally ◽  
Prakash Kharel ◽  
Ramesh Pandey ◽  
Rohan Garje ◽  
Abhinav B. Chandra

Cancer is associated with higher morbidity and mortality and is the second leading cause of death in the US. Further, in some nations, cancer has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of mortality. Identification of molecular mechanisms by which cancerous cells evade T cell-mediated cytotoxic damage has led to the modern era of immunotherapy in cancer treatment. Agents that release these immune brakes have shown activity to recover dysfunctional T cells and regress various cancer. Both cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and Programmed Death-1 (PD-1) play their role as physiologic brakes on unrestrained cytotoxic T effector function. CTLA-4 (CD 152) is a B7/CD28 family; it mediates immunosuppression by indirectly diminishing signaling through the co-stimulatory receptor CD28. Ipilimumab is the first and only FDA-approved CTLA-4 inhibitor; PD-1 is an inhibitory transmembrane protein expressed on T cells, B cells, Natural Killer cells (NKs), and Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSCs). Programmed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1) is expressed on the surface of multiple tissue types, including many tumor cells and hematopoietic cells. PD-L2 is more restricted to hematopoietic cells. Blockade of the PD-1 /PDL-1 pathway can enhance anti-tumor T cell reactivity and promotes immune control over the cancerous cells. Since the FDA approval of ipilimumab (human IgG1 k anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody) in 2011, six more immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been approved for cancer therapy. PD-1 inhibitors nivolumab, pembrolizumab, cemiplimab and PD-L1 inhibitors atezolizumab, avelumab, and durvalumab are in the current list of the approved agents in addition to ipilimumab. In this review paper, we discuss the role of each immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), the landmark trials which led to their FDA approval, and the strength of the evidence per National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), which is broadly utilized by medical oncologists and hematologists in their daily practice.


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