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Vormehr M, Lehar S, Kranz LM, Tahtinen S, Oei Y, Javinal V, Delamarre L, Walzer KC, Diken M, Kreiter S, Mellman I, Sahin U, Schartner JM, Türeci Ö. Dexamethasone premedication suppresses vaccine-induced immune responses against cancer. Oncoimmunology 2020; 9:1758004. [PMID: 32923115 PMCID: PMC7458619 DOI: 10.1080/2162402x.2020.1758004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Glucocorticosteroids (GCS) have an established role in oncology and are administered to cancer patients in routine clinical care and in drug development trials as co-medication. Given their strong immune-suppressive activity, GCS may interfere with immune-oncology drugs. We are developing a therapeutic cancer vaccine, which is based on a liposomal formulation of tumor-antigen encoding RNA (RNA-LPX) and induces a strong T-cell response both in mice as well as in humans. In this study, we investigated in vivo in mice and in human PBMCs the effect of the commonly used long-acting GCS Dexamethasone (Dexa) on the efficacy of this vaccine format, with a particular focus on antigen-specific T-cell immune responses. We show that Dexa, when used as premedication, substantially blunts RNA-LPX vaccine-mediated immune effects. Premedication with Dexa inhibits vaccine-dependent induction of serum cytokines and chemokines and reduces both the number and activation of splenic conventional dendritic cells (cDC) expressing vaccine-encoded antigens. Consequently, priming of functional effector T cells and therapeutic activity is significantly impaired. Interestingly, responses are less impacted when Dexa is administered post-vaccination. Consistent with this observation, although many inflammatory cytokines are reduced, IFNα, a key cytokine in T-cell priming, is less impacted and antigen expression by cDCs is intact. These findings warrant special caution when combining GCS with immune therapies relying on priming and activation of antigen-specific T cells and suggest that careful sequencing of these treatments may preserve T-cell induction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathias Vormehr
- BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, Mainz, Germany.,Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Yoko Oei
- Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Vincent Javinal
- BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, Mainz, Germany.,Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.,Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA.,BioNTech SE, Mainz, Germany.,TRON - Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
| | | | | | - Mustafa Diken
- BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, Mainz, Germany.,TRON - Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sebastian Kreiter
- BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, Mainz, Germany.,TRON - Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
| | - Ira Mellman
- Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Ugur Sahin
- Research Center for Immunotherapy (FZI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.,TRON - Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University gGmbH, Mainz, Germany.,BioNTech SE, Mainz, Germany
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Pardi N, Hogan MJ, Weissman D. Recent advances in mRNA vaccine technology. Curr Opin Immunol 2020; 65:14-20. [PMID: 32244193 DOI: 10.1016/j.coi.2020.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 267] [Impact Index Per Article: 66.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines represent a relatively new vaccine class showing great promise for the future. This optimism is built on recently published studies demonstrating the efficacy of mRNA vaccines in combatting several types of cancer and infectious pathogens where conventional vaccine platforms may fail to induce protective immune responses. These results would not have been possible without critical recent innovations in the field, such as the development of safe and efficient materials for in vivo mRNA delivery and advanced protocols for the production of high quality mRNA. This review summarizes the most important developments in mRNA vaccines from the past few years and discusses the challenges and future directions for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norbert Pardi
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
| | - Michael J Hogan
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Drew Weissman
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
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Feng X, Xu W, Li Z, Song W, Ding J, Chen X. Immunomodulatory Nanosystems. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2019; 6:1900101. [PMID: 31508270 PMCID: PMC6724480 DOI: 10.1002/advs.201900101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 213] [Impact Index Per Article: 42.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2019] [Revised: 04/21/2019] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Immunotherapy has emerged as an effective strategy for the prevention and treatment of a variety of diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases, inflammatory diseases, and autoimmune diseases. Immunomodulatory nanosystems can readily improve the therapeutic effects and simultaneously overcome many obstacles facing the treatment method, such as inadequate immune stimulation, off-target side effects, and bioactivity loss of immune agents during circulation. In recent years, researchers have continuously developed nanomaterials with new structures, properties, and functions. This Review provides the most recent advances of nanotechnology for immunostimulation and immunosuppression. In cancer immunotherapy, nanosystems play an essential role in immune cell activation and tumor microenvironment modulation, as well as combination with other antitumor approaches. In infectious diseases, many encouraging outcomes from using nanomaterial vaccines against viral and bacterial infections have been reported. In addition, nanoparticles also potentiate the effects of immunosuppressive immune cells for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Finally, the challenges and prospects of applying nanotechnology to modulate immunotherapy are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangru Feng
- Key Laboratory of Polymer EcomaterialsChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022P. R. China
- University of Science and Technology of ChinaHefei230026P. R. China
| | - Weiguo Xu
- Key Laboratory of Polymer EcomaterialsChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022P. R. China
| | - Zhongmin Li
- Key Laboratory of Polymer EcomaterialsChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022P. R. China
- Department of Gastrointestinal Colorectal and Anal SurgeryChina–Japan Union Hospital of Jilin UniversityChangchun130033P. R. China
| | - Wantong Song
- Key Laboratory of Polymer EcomaterialsChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022P. R. China
| | - Jianxun Ding
- Key Laboratory of Polymer EcomaterialsChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022P. R. China
| | - Xuesi Chen
- Key Laboratory of Polymer EcomaterialsChangchun Institute of Applied ChemistryChinese Academy of SciencesChangchun130022P. R. China
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Latest development on RNA-based drugs and vaccines. Future Sci OA 2018; 4:FSO300. [PMID: 29796303 PMCID: PMC5961404 DOI: 10.4155/fsoa-2017-0151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Drugs and vaccines based on mRNA and RNA viruses show great potential and direct translation in the cytoplasm eliminates chromosomal integration. Limitations are associated with delivery and stability issues related to RNA degradation. Clinical trials on RNA-based drugs have been conducted in various disease areas. Likewise, RNA-based vaccines for viral infections and various cancers have been subjected to preclinical and clinical studies. RNA delivery and stability improvements include RNA structure modifications, targeting dendritic cells and employing self-amplifying RNA. Single-stranded RNA viruses possess self-amplifying RNA, which can provide extreme RNA replication in the cytoplasm to support RNA-based drug and vaccine development. Although oligonucleotide-based approaches have demonstrated potential, the focus here is on mRNA- and RNA virus-based methods. Drug development has suffered from inefficiency, side effects and high costs. For this reason novel approaches for drug discovery are of great importance. RNA-based methods provide the advantage of targeting ‘production’ of drugs to diseased cells and vaccines to immune response-stimulating cells. RNA drugs have demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in eye and heart diseases and in various cancers in clinical trials. Likewise, RNA-based vaccines have provided protection against challenges with lethal doses of viruses such as Ebola and cancer cells in animal models.
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