Lymph Node-Targeted Vaccine Boosting of TCR T-cell Therapy Enhances Antitumor Function and Eradicates Solid Tumors.
Dylan J DrakesAbdulraouf M AbbasJacqueline ShieldsMartin P SteinbuckAniela JakubowskiLochana M SeenappaChristopher M HaqqPeter C DeMuthPublished in: Cancer immunology research (2024)
T-cell receptor (TCR)-modified T-cell therapies have shown promise against solid tumors, but overall therapeutic benefits have been modest due in part to suboptimal T-cell persistence and activation in vivo, alongside potential tumor antigen escape. In this study, we demonstrate an approach to enhance the in vivo persistence and function of TCR T cells through combination with Amphiphile (AMP) vaccination including cognate TCR T peptides. AMP modification improves lymph node targeting of conjugated tumor immunogens and adjuvants, thereby coordinating a robust T cell-activating endogenous immune response. AMP vaccine combination with TCR T-cell therapy led to complete eradication and durable responses against established murine solid tumors refractory to TCR T-cell monotherapy. Enhanced antitumor efficacy was correlated with simultaneous in vivo invigoration of adoptively transferred TCR T cells and in situ expansion of the endogenous antitumor T-cell repertoire. Long-term protection against tumor recurrence in AMP-vaccinated mice was associated with antigen spreading to additional tumor-associated antigens not targeted by vaccination. AMP vaccination further correlated with pro-inflammatory lymph node transcriptional reprogramming and increased antigen presenting-cell maturation, resulting in TCR T-cell expansion and functional enhancement in lymph nodes and solid tumor parenchyma without lymphodepletion. In vitro evaluation of AMP peptides with matched human TCR T cells targeting NY-ESO-1, mutant KRAS, and HPV16 E7 illustrated the clinical potential of AMP vaccination to enhance human TCR T-cell proliferation, activation, and antitumor activity. Taken together, these studies provide rationale and evidence to support clinical evaluation of combining AMP vaccination with TCR T-cell therapies to augment antitumor activity.
Keyphrases
- lymph node
- regulatory t cells
- protein kinase
- cell therapy
- dendritic cells
- immune response
- cell proliferation
- neoadjuvant chemotherapy
- sentinel lymph node
- cancer therapy
- clinical trial
- randomized controlled trial
- stem cells
- early stage
- risk assessment
- oxidative stress
- machine learning
- adipose tissue
- radiation therapy
- signaling pathway
- open label
- inflammatory response
- case report
- artificial intelligence
- deep learning
- pi k akt
- double blind
- big data