In the physiologically relevant MMTV-PyMT GEMM model, Miller and Sagiv-Barfi et al. demonstrated that systemic delivery of a tumor integrin-targeted TLR9 agonist (PIP-CpG) led to sustained elimination of tumors existing at the time of treatment (“initial” tumors) and delayed growth, but eventual progression with subsequent newly induced tumors. Effective PIP-CpG therapy depended on CD4+/CD8+ T cells and resulted in profound TME remodeling, affecting cytokine/chemokine production, innate and adaptive immune cell infiltration, and immune cell phenotypic changes, on balance resulting in an antitumor immune landscape.
Contributed by Ed Fritsch
ABSTRACT: Spontaneous tumors that arise in genetically engineered mice recapitulate the natural tumor microenvironment and tumor-immune coevolution observed in human cancers, providing a more physiologically relevant preclinical model relative to implanted tumors. Similar to many cancer patients, oncogene-driven spontaneous tumors are often resistant to immunotherapy, and thus novel agents that can effectively promote antitumor immunity against these aggressive cancers show considerable promise for clinical translation, and their mechanistic assessment can broaden our understanding of tumor immunology. In this study, we performed extensive immune profiling experiments to investigate how tumor-targeted TLR9 stimulation remodels the microenvironment of spontaneously arising tumors during an effective antitumor immune response. To model the clinical scenario of multiple tumor sites, we used MMTV-PyMT transgenic mice, which spontaneously develop heterogeneous breast tumors throughout their 10 mammary glands. We found that i.v. administration of a tumor-targeting TLR9 agonist, referred to as PIP-CpG, induced a systemic T cell-mediated immune response that not only promoted regression of existing mammary tumors, but also elicited immune memory capable of delaying growth of independent newly arising tumors. Within the tumor microenvironment, PIP-CpG therapy initiated an inflammatory cascade that dramatically amplified chemokine and cytokine production, prompted robust infiltration and expansion of innate and adaptive immune cells, and led to diverse and unexpected changes in immune phenotypes. This study demonstrates that effective systemic treatment of an autochthonous multisite tumor model can be achieved using a tumor-targeted immunostimulant and provides immunological insights that will inform future therapeutic strategies.
Author Info: (1) Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (2) Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (3) Department of Medicine
Author Info: (1) Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (2) Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (3) Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (4) Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (5) Department of Chemistry and Stanford ChEM-H, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (6) Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. (7) Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
