Immune therapy of AML

NCI First International Workshop on The Biology, Prevention and Treatment of Relapse after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: report from the committee on prevention of relapse following allogeneic cell transplantation for hematologic malignancies

Prevention of relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the most likely approach to improve survival of patients treated for hematologic malignancies. Herein we review the limits of currently available transplant therapies and the innovative strategies being developed to overcome resistance to therapy or to fill therapeutic modalities not currently available. These novel strategies include nonimmunologic therapies, such as targeted preparative regimens and posttransplant drug therapy, as well as immunologic interventions, including graft engineering, donor lymphocyte infusions, T cell engineering, vaccination, and dendritic cell-based approaches. Several aspects of the biology of the malignant cells as well as the host have been identified that obviate success of even these newer strategies. To maximize the potential for success, we recommend pursuing research to develop additional targeted therapies to be used in the preparative regimen or as maintenance posttransplant, better characterize the T cell and dendritic cells subsets involved in graft-versus-host disease and the graft-versus-leukemia/tumor effect, identify strategies for timing immunologic or nonimmunologic therapies to eliminate the noncycling cancer stem cell, identify more targets for immunotherapies, develop new vaccines that will not be limited by HLA, and develop methods to identify populations at very high risk for relapse to accelerate clinical development and avoid toxicity in patients not at risk for relapse.

T-cell-based therapies for malignancy and infection in childhood

One major advance in T-cell-based immunotherapy in the last 20 years has been the molecular definition of numerous viral and tumor antigens. Adoptive T-cell transfer has shown definite clinical benefit in the prophylaxis and treatment of viral infections that develop in pediatric patients after allogeneic transplant and in posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease associated with the Epstein-Barr virus. Developing adoptive T-cell therapies for other malignancies presents additional challenges. This article describes the recent advances in T-cell-based therapies for malignancy and infection in childhood and strategies to enhance the effector functions of T cells and optimize the cellular product, including gene modification and modulation of the host environment.

Preferential suppression of trisomy 8 compared with normal hematopoietic cell growth by autologous lymphocytes in patients with trisomy 8 myelodysplastic syndrome

Clinical observations and experimental evidence link bone marrow failure in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with a T cell-dominated autoimmune process. Immunosuppressive therapy is effective in improving cytopenias in selected patients. Trisomy 8 is a frequent cytogenetic abnormality in bone marrow cells in patients with MDS, and its presence has been associated anecdotally with good response to immunotherapy. We studied 34 patients with trisomy 8 in bone marrow cells, some of whom were undergoing treatment with antithymocyte globulin (ATG). All had significant CD8+ T-cell expansions of one or more T-cell receptor (TCR) Vbeta subfamilies, as measured by flow cytometry; expanded subfamilies showed CDR3 skewing by spectratyping. Sorted T cells of the expanded Vbeta subfamilies, but not of the remaining subfamilies, inhibited trisomy 8 cell growth in short-term hematopoietic culture. The negative effects of Vbeta-expanded T cells were inhibited by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class 1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) and Fas antagonist and required direct cell-to-cell contact. Sixty-seven percent of patients who had de novo MDS with trisomy 8 as the sole karyotypic abnormality responded to ATG with durable reversal of cytopenias and restoration of transfusion independence, with stable increase in the proportion of trisomy 8 bone marrow cells and normalization of the T-cell repertoire. An increased number of T cells with apparent specificity for trisomy 8 cells is consistent with an autoimmune pathophysiology in trisomy 8 MDS.

Effects of SU5416, a small molecule tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor, on FLT3 expression and phosphorylation in patients with refractory acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with dysregulated hematopoietic cell proliferation and increased bone marrow angiogenesis, each regulated by signaling through receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). SU5416 is a small molecule inhibitor of VEGF receptors, c-kit and FLT3 and therefore provides a novel opportunity to target both angiogenesis and proliferation in AML. SU5416 was assessed in a phase II hematological malignancy trial in the US, where partial responses were observed in two of 33 patients. Since AML provides a unique platform to evaluate mechanism of action of small molecule inhibitors, investigation of the effect of SU5416 on FLT3 expression and phosphorylation in blood and bone marrow was an additional focus of this trial. Phosphorylated FLT3 was detected by immunoprecipitation/Western analysis in peripheral blood samples from 17 of 22 patients, and seven exhibited strong inhibition of phosphorylation immediately following a 1h SU5416 infusion, demonstrating that SU5416 can modulate RTK phosphorylation in humans. Although no clear correlation with clinical response was observed, analysis of patient plasma drug levels suggested that a threshold SU5416 concentration of 15 microM was associated with FLT3 inhibition. This observation was supported by data from an ex vivo model where AML cells were spiked into human blood, established to mimic the clinical setting and enable more rigorous analysis of effect of SU5416. In addition, FLT3 protein levels were downregulated in patient bone marrow samples, analyzed by an RIA assay. To identify putative predictors of response, patient plasma was analyzed for levels of secreted ligands of SU5416 targets; SCF and FLT3 ligand. Baseline levels of SCF in patients with stable or progressive disease were significantly higher than those in normal donors, whereas FLT3 ligand levels in patients who exhibited progressive disease were significantly lower than those in normal donors. The translational and clinical analyses described in this report provide some insights into the mechanism and duration of action of SU5416.