Polyoxidonium® Activates Cytotoxic Lymphocyte Responses Through Dendritic Cell Maturation: Clinical Effects in Breast Cancer

Immunotherapy, which is seen as a major tool for cancer treatment, requires, in some cases, the presence of several agents to maximize its effects. Adjuvants can enhance the effect of other agents. However, despite their long-time use, only a few adjuvants are licensed today, and their use in cancer treatment is rare. Azoximer bromide, marketed under the trade name Polyoxidonium® (PO), is a copolymer of N-oxidized 1,4-ethylenepiperazine and (N-carboxyethyl)-1,4-ethylene piperazinium bromide. It has been described as an immune adjuvant and immunomodulator that is clinically used with excellent tolerance. PO is used in the treatment and prophylaxis of diseases connected with damage to the immune system, and there is interest in testing it in antitumor therapy. We show here that PO treatment for 1 week induced positive pathological changes in 6 out of 20 patients with breast cancer, including complete response in a triple-negative patient. This correlated with an increased tumor CD4⁺ T-lymphocyte infiltration. The immune effects of PO are associated with myeloid cell activation, and little is known about the action of PO on lymphocyte lineages, such as natural killer (NK) and T cells. We reveal that PO increases T-cell proliferation in vitro without negative effects on any activation marker. PO does not affect dendritic cell (DC) viability and increases the expansion of immature DC (iDC) and mature DC (mDC) at 100 μg/ml, and it stimulates expression of several DC co-stimulatory molecules, inducing the proliferation of allogeneic T cells. In contrast, PO decreases DC viability when added at day 5 post-expansion. PO is not toxic for NK cells at doses up to 100 μM and does not affect their activation, maturation, and cytotoxicity but tends to increase degranulation. This could be beneficial against target cells that show low sensitivity to NK cells, e.g., solid tumor cells. Finally, we have found great variability in PO response between donors. In summary, our in vitro results show that PO increases the number of costimulatory molecules on DC that prime T cells, favoring the production of effector T cells. This may support the future clinical development of PO in cancer treatment.