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Syed M, Cagely M, Dogra P, Hollmer L, Butner JD, Cristini V, Koay EJ. Immune-checkpoint inhibitor therapy response evaluation using oncophysics-based mathematical models. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. NANOMEDICINE AND NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY 2023; 15:e1855. [PMID: 36148978 DOI: 10.1002/wnan.1855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The field of oncology has transformed with the advent of immunotherapies. The standard of care for multiple cancers now includes novel drugs that target key checkpoints that function to modulate immune responses, enabling the patient's immune system to elicit an effective anti-tumor response. While these immune-based approaches can have dramatic effects in terms of significantly reducing tumor burden and prolonging survival for patients, the therapeutic approach remains active only in a minority of patients and is often not durable. Multiple biological investigations have identified key markers that predict response to the most common form of immunotherapy-immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). These biomarkers help enrich patients for ICI but are not 100% predictive. Understanding the complex interactions of these biomarkers with other pathways and factors that lead to ICI resistance remains a major goal. Principles of oncophysics-the idea that cancer can be described as a multiscale physical aberration-have shown promise in recent years in terms of capturing the essence of the complexities of ICI interactions. Here, we review the biological knowledge of mechanisms of ICI action and how these are incorporated into modern oncophysics-based mathematical models. Building on the success of oncophysics-based mathematical models may help to discover new, rational methods to engineer immunotherapy for patients in the future. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mustafa Syed
- Department of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Matthew Cagely
- Department of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Prashant Dogra
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.,Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA
| | - Lauren Hollmer
- Department of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Joseph D Butner
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Vittorio Cristini
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.,Department of Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.,Physiology, Biophysics, and Systems Biology Program, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Eugene J Koay
- Department of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
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Jain HV, Norton KA, Prado BB, Jackson TL. SMoRe ParS: A novel methodology for bridging modeling modalities and experimental data applied to 3D vascular tumor growth. Front Mol Biosci 2022; 9:1056461. [PMID: 36619168 PMCID: PMC9816661 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.1056461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Multiscale systems biology is having an increasingly powerful impact on our understanding of the interconnected molecular, cellular, and microenvironmental drivers of tumor growth and the effects of novel drugs and drug combinations for cancer therapy. Agent-based models (ABMs) that treat cells as autonomous decision-makers, each with their own intrinsic characteristics, are a natural platform for capturing intratumoral heterogeneity. Agent-based models are also useful for integrating the multiple time and spatial scales associated with vascular tumor growth and response to treatment. Despite all their benefits, the computational costs of solving agent-based models escalate and become prohibitive when simulating millions of cells, making parameter exploration and model parameterization from experimental data very challenging. Moreover, such data are typically limited, coarse-grained and may lack any spatial resolution, compounding these challenges. We address these issues by developing a first-of-its-kind method that leverages explicitly formulated surrogate models (SMs) to bridge the current computational divide between agent-based models and experimental data. In our approach, Surrogate Modeling for Reconstructing Parameter Surfaces (SMoRe ParS), we quantify the uncertainty in the relationship between agent-based model inputs and surrogate model parameters, and between surrogate model parameters and experimental data. In this way, surrogate model parameters serve as intermediaries between agent-based model input and data, making it possible to use them for calibration and uncertainty quantification of agent-based model parameters that map directly onto an experimental data set. We illustrate the functionality and novelty of Surrogate Modeling for Reconstructing Parameter Surfaces by applying it to an agent-based model of 3D vascular tumor growth, and experimental data in the form of tumor volume time-courses. Our method is broadly applicable to situations where preserving underlying mechanistic information is of interest, and where computational complexity and sparse, noisy calibration data hinder model parameterization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harsh Vardhan Jain
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, United States
| | - Kerri-Ann Norton
- Reem and Kayden Center for Science and Computation, Computational Biology Laboratory, Computer Science Program, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, United States
| | | | - Trachette L. Jackson
- Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States,*Correspondence: Trachette L. Jackson,
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Butner JD, Dogra P, Chung C, Pasqualini R, Arap W, Lowengrub J, Cristini V, Wang Z. Mathematical modeling of cancer immunotherapy for personalized clinical translation. NATURE COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE 2022; 2:785-796. [PMID: 38126024 PMCID: PMC10732566 DOI: 10.1038/s43588-022-00377-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Encouraging advances are being made in cancer immunotherapy modeling, especially in the key areas of developing personalized treatment strategies based on individual patient parameters, predicting treatment outcomes and optimizing immunotherapy synergy when used in combination with other treatment approaches. Here we present a focused review of the most recent mathematical modeling work on cancer immunotherapy with a focus on clinical translatability. It can be seen that this field is transitioning from pure basic science to applications that can make impactful differences in patients' lives. We discuss how researchers are integrating experimental and clinical data to fully inform models so that they can be applied for clinical predictions, and present the challenges that remain to be overcome if widespread clinical adaptation is to be realized. Lastly, we discuss the most promising future applications and areas that are expected to be the focus of extensive upcoming modeling studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph D. Butner
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Prashant Dogra
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Caroline Chung
- Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Renata Pasqualini
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, USA
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Cancer Biology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Wadih Arap
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, USA
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - John Lowengrub
- Department of Mathematics, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Vittorio Cristini
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
- Neal Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
- Department of Imaging Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
- Physiology, Biophysics, and Systems Biology Program, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Zhihui Wang
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
- Neal Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
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Butner JD, Farhat M, Cristini V, Chung C, Wang Z. Protocol for mathematical prediction of patient response and survival to immune checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy. STAR Protoc 2022; 3:101886. [PMID: 36595890 PMCID: PMC9719106 DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Revised: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
This protocol describes the application of a mechanistic mathematical model of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) immunotherapy to patient tumor imaging data for predicting solid tumor response and patient survival under ICI intervention. We describe steps for data collection and processing, data pipelines, and approaches to increase precision. The protocol is highly predictive as early as the first restaging after treatment start and can be used with standard-of-care imaging measures. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Butner et al. (2020)1 and Butner et al. (2021).2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph D. Butner
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA,Corresponding author
| | - Maguy Farhat
- Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Vittorio Cristini
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA,Neal Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA,Department of Imaging Physics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77230, USA,Physiology, Biophysics, and Systems Biology Program, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Caroline Chung
- Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA,Corresponding author
| | - Zhihui Wang
- Mathematics in Medicine Program, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA,Neal Cancer Center, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA,Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA,Department of Medical Education, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, Bryan, TX 77807, USA,Corresponding author
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Distinct Dynamics of Migratory Response to PD-1 and CTLA-4 Blockade Reveals New Mechanistic Insights for Potential T-Cell Reinvigoration following Immune Checkpoint Blockade. Cells 2022; 11:cells11223534. [PMID: 36428963 PMCID: PMC9688893 DOI: 10.3390/cells11223534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), two clinically relevant targets for the immunotherapy of cancer, are negative regulators of T-cell activation and migration. Optimizing the therapeutic response to CTLA-4 and PD-1 blockade calls for a more comprehensive insight into the coordinated function of these immune regulators. Mathematical modeling can be used to elucidate nonlinear tumor-immune interactions and highlight the underlying mechanisms to tackle the problem. Here, we investigated and statistically characterized the dynamics of T-cell migration as a measure of the functional response to these pathways. We used a previously developed three-dimensional organotypic culture of patient-derived tumor spheroids treated with anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 antibodies for this purpose. Experiment-based dynamical modeling revealed the delayed kinetics of PD-1 activation, which originates from the distinct characteristics of PD-1 and CTLA-4 regulation, and followed through with the modification of their contributions to immune modulation. The simulation results show good agreement with the tumor cell reduction and active immune cell count in each experiment. Our findings demonstrate that while PD-1 activation provokes a more exhaustive intracellular cascade within a mature tumor environment, the time-delayed kinetics of PD-1 activation outweighs its preeminence at the individual cell level and consequently confers a functional dominance to the CTLA-4 checkpoint. The proposed model explains the distinct immunostimulatory pattern of PD-1 and CTLA-4 blockade based on mechanisms involved in the regulation of their expression and may be useful for planning effective treatment schemes targeting PD-1 and CTLA-4 functions.
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