LTX-315 and adoptive cell therapy using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes generate tumor specific T cells in patients with metastatic soft tissue sarcoma

Advancements and challenges in personalized neoantigen-based cancer vaccines

Advancements in personalized neoantigen-based cancer vaccines are ushering in a new era in oncology, targeting unique genetic alterations within tumors to enhance treatment precision and efficacy. Neoantigens, specific to cancer cells and absent in normal tissues, are at the heart of these vaccines, promising to direct the immune system specifically against the tumor, thereby maximizing therapeutic efficacy while minimizing side effects. The identification of neoantigens through genomic and proteomic technologies is central to developing these vaccines, allowing for the precise mapping of a tumor's mutational landscape. Despite advancements, accurately predicting which neoantigens will elicit strong immune responses remains challenging due to tumor variability and the complexity of immune system interactions. This necessitates further refinement of bioinformatics tools and predictive models. Moreover, the efficacy of these vaccines heavily depends on innovative delivery methods that enhance neoantigen presentation to the immune system. Techniques like encapsulating neoantigens in lipid nanoparticles and using viral vectors are critical for improving vaccine stability and delivery. Additionally, these vaccines contribute towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.8, promoting universal health coverage by advancing access to safe and effective cancer treatments. This review delves into the potential of neoantigen-based vaccines to transform cancer treatment, examining both revolutionary advancements and the ongoing challenges they face.

Surgical Considerations in Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy: Challenges and Opportunities

Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is a promising personalized immunotherapy approach, spearheaded by Dr. Steven Rosenberg, targeting various cancer types. Despite initial challenges in TIL production, recent advancements have showcased its superiority to immune checkpoint blockade in metastatic melanoma, even after anti-PD-1 therapy failure. The expedited manufacturing process, now around 3 weeks, coupled with the US Food and Drug Administration approval of lifileucel in 2024, is poised to propel TIL therapy into mainstream oncology. This commentary delves into the critical surgical aspects of TIL harvesting, emphasizing the integral role of surgeons in ensuring optimal TIL quality, safety, and therapeutic effectiveness. By shedding light on these considerations, this article aims to guide and enhance collaborative efforts in advancing TIL therapy for patients facing limited treatment options.

Current status and perspectives of clinical trials for tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy

Immunotherapies, mainly immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), have revolutionized cancer treatment strategies over the past decade, but their limitations have limited clinical applications. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy is a type of adoptive cell therapy (ACT), which collects infiltrating lymphocytes at the tumor site and expands them in vitro to obtain TIL final products cloned by various T-cell receptors, subsequently reinfused TIL into the patient, which is effective for the treatment of solid tumors. The approval of Lifileucel for commercialization marks the success of TIL therapy. This review summarizes the current status of clinical trials of TIL treatment. In addition, it is suggested that the current research trend of TIL should focus on improving the survival time of TIL in vivo, reducing drug toxicity, and searching for prognostic markers. Finally, it is expected that TIL therapy can be applied to a more wide range of clinical treatments.

LTX-315 is a novel broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide against clinical multidrug-resistant bacteria

INTRODUCTION

Infections stemming from multidrug-resistant bacteria present a substantial threat to public health today. Discovering or synthesizing novel compounds is crucial to alleviate this pressing situation.

OBJECTIVE

The main purpose of this study is to verify the antibacterial activity of LTX-315 and explore its primary action mode.

METHODS

Through antibacterial phenotype assay screening, we obtained a potent compound named LTX-315 from diverse drug libraries, 10,926 compounds in total. Then, the bactericidal effect and its action mode were explored through biochemical and chemistry methods such as atime-killing curve, scanning electronic microscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance. Finally, the efficacy in vivo of LTX-315 against drug-resistant bacteria was proved through amice infection model.

RESULTS

In this study, LTX-315, an oncolytic peptide, was discovered to effectively eliminate gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens, even for those multidrug-resistant strains. Through strong electrostatic interactions, LTX-315 can bind to the membrane component phosphatidylglycerol (PG) with extremely high affinity (nanomolar level). Strikingly, in contrast to the typical electrostatic interactions of antibacterial peptides, the indole group of LTX-315, situated near the alkyl chain, exhibits significantly enhanced recognition and interaction with PG due to the hydrophobic effect of the alkyl chain. Furthermore, it exerts various impacts on cell membranes, including damaging integrity, increasing permeability, and decreasing membrane fluidity. Additionally, microscopy revealed significant cell disintegration. The influence, in turn, disrupts several physiological activities inside cells, such as increasing the reactive oxygen species level, ultimately leading to cell death. Finally, the efficacy of LTX-315 in vivo against multidrug-resistant and hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae was demonstrated.

CONCLUSION

The unique mechanism of LTX-315 involves high-affinity binding to PG and subsequent membrane disruption, providing a novel approach against multidrug-resistant bacteria compared to conventional antibiotics. As a potential candidate, it shows promise in effectively treating bacterial infections, particularly those caused by drug-resistant bacteria, thereby addressing the escalating challenge of antibiotic resistance worldwide.

AI-based classification of anticancer drugs reveals nucleolar condensation as a predictor of immunogenicity

BACKGROUND

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducers are often identified in phenotypic screening campaigns by the release or surface exposure of various danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) from malignant cells. This study aimed to streamline the identification of ICD inducers by leveraging cellular morphological correlates of ICD, specifically the condensation of nucleoli (CON).

METHODS

We applied artificial intelligence (AI)-based imaging analyses to Cell Paint-stained cells exposed to drug libraries, identifying CON as a marker for ICD. CON was characterized using SYTO 14 fluorescent staining and holotomographic microscopy, and visualized by AI-deconvoluted transmitted light microscopy. A neural network-based quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model was trained to link molecular descriptors of compounds to the CON phenotype, and the classifier was validated using an independent dataset from the NCI-curated mechanistic collection of anticancer agents.

RESULTS

CON strongly correlated with the inhibition of DNA-to-RNA transcription. Cytotoxic drugs that inhibit RNA synthesis without causing DNA damage were as effective as conventional cytotoxicants in inducing ICD, as demonstrated by DAMPs release/exposure and vaccination efficacy in mice. The QSAR classifier successfully predicted drugs with a high likelihood of inducing CON.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed AI-based algorithms for predicting CON-inducing drugs based on molecular descriptors and their validation using automated micrographs analysis, offering a new approach for screening ICD inducers with minimized adverse effects in cancer therapy.

Advances in cell therapy: progress and challenges in hematological and solid tumors

Cell-based therapies harness the endogenous ability of the immune system to fight cancer and have shown promising results in the treatment of hematological malignancies. However, their clinical application beyond B cell malignancies is hampered by numerous hurdles, ranging from relapsed disease to a hostile tumor microenvironment (TME). Recent advances in cell engineering and TME modulation may expand the applicability of these therapies to a wider range of cancers, creating new treatment possibilities. Breakthroughs in advanced gene editing and sophisticated cell engineering, have also provided promising solutions to longstanding challenges. In this review, we examine the challenges and future directions of the most prominent cell-based therapies, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and natural killer (NK) cells, and emerging modalities. We provide a comprehensive analysis of emerging cell types and combination strategies translated into clinical trials, offering insights into the next generation of cell-based cancer treatments.

From defense to offense: antimicrobial peptides as promising therapeutics for cancer

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), naturally occurring components of innate immunity, are emerging as a promising new class of anticancer agents. This review explores the potential of AMPs as a novel class of anticancer agents. AMPs, naturally occurring peptides with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, exhibit several characteristics that make them attractive candidates for cancer therapy, including selectivity for cancer cells, broad-spectrum activity, and immunomodulatory effects. Analysis of a dataset of AMPs with anticancer activity reveals that their effectiveness is influenced by various structural properties, including net charge, length, Boman index, and hydrophobicity. These properties contribute to their ability to target and disrupt cancer cell membranes, interfere with intracellular processes, and modulate the immune response. The review highlights the promising potential of AMPs as a new frontier in cancer treatment, offering hope for more effective and less toxic therapies. AMPs demonstrate promising potential in cancer therapy through multiple mechanisms, including direct cytotoxicity, immune response modulation, and targeting of the tumor microenvironment, as evidenced by extensive preclinical studies in animal models showing tumor regression, metastasis inhibition, and improved survival rates. AMPs show significant potential as cancer therapeutics through their direct cytotoxicity, immune response modulation, and tumor microenvironment targeting, with promising results from preclinical studies and early-phase clinical trials. Future research should focus on optimizing AMP properties, developing novel delivery strategies, and exploring synergistic combination therapies to fully realize their potential as effective cancer treatments, while addressing challenges related to stability, delivery, and potential toxicity.

Branched oncolytic peptides target HSPGs, inhibit metastasis, and trigger the release of molecular determinants of immunogenic cell death in pancreatic cancer

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) can be exploited to treat non-immunoreactive tumors that do not respond to current standard and innovative therapies. Not all chemotherapeutics trigger ICD, among those that do exert this effect, there are anthracyclines, irinotecan, some platinum derivatives and oncolytic peptides. We studied two new branched oncolytic peptides, BOP7 and BOP9 that proved to elicit the release of damage-associated molecular patterns DAMPS, mediators of ICD, in pancreatic cancer cells. The two BOPs selectively bound and killed tumor cells, particularly PANC-1 and Mia PaCa-2, but not cells of non-tumor origin such as RAW 264.7, CHO-K1 and pgsA-745. The cancer selectivity of the two BOPs may be attributed to their repeated cationic sequences, which enable multivalent binding to heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans (HSPGs), bearing multiple anionic sulfation patterns on cancer cells. This interaction of BOPs with HSPGs not only fosters an anti-metastatic effect in vitro, as demonstrated by reduced adhesion and migration of PANC-1 cancer cells, but also shows promising tumor-specific cytotoxicity and low hemolytic activity. Remarkably, the cytotoxicity induced by BOPs triggers the release of DAMPs, particularly HMGB1, IFN-β and ATP, by dying cells, persisting longer than the cytotoxicity of conventional chemotherapeutic agents such as irinotecan and daunorubicin. An in vivo assay in nude mice showed an encouraging 20% inhibition of tumor grafting and growth in a pancreatic cancer model by BOP9.

LTX-315 triggers anticancer immunity by inducing MyD88-dependent maturation of dendritic cells

LTX-315 is a synthetic cationic oncolytic peptide with potent anticancer activity but limited toxicity for non-malignant cells. LTX-315 induces both immunogenic tumor cell death and generation of tumor-specific immune responses in multiple experimental tumor models. Given the central role of dendritic cell (DC) maturation in the induction of antigen-specific immunity, we investigated the effect of LTX-315 treatment on the maturation of tumor-infiltrating DCs (TiDCs) and the generation of anti-melanoma immunity. We found that LTX-315 treatment induces the maturation of DCs, both indirectly through the release of cancer cell-derived damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs)/alarmins and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) capable of triggering distinct Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling, and, directly by activating TLR7. The latter results in the ignition of multiple intracellular signaling pathways that promotes DC maturation, including NF-κB, mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and inflammasome signaling, as well as increased type 1 interferon production. Critically, the effects of LTX-315 on DCs the consequent promotion of anti-melanoma immunity depend on the cytosolic signal transducer myeloid differentiation response gene 88 (MyD88). These results cast light on the mechanisms by which LTX-315 induces DC maturation and hence elicits anticancer immunity, with important implications for the use of LTX-315 as an anticancer immunotherapeutic.