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Van Damme H, Dombrecht B, Kiss M, Roose H, Allen E, Van Overmeire E, Kancheva D, Martens L, Murgaski A, Bardet PMR, Blancke G, Jans M, Bolli E, Martins MS, Elkrim Y, Dooley J, Boon L, Schwarze JK, Tacke F, Movahedi K, Vandamme N, Neyns B, Ocak S, Scheyltjens I, Vereecke L, Nana FA, Merchiers P, Laoui D, Van Ginderachter JA. Therapeutic depletion of CCR8 + tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells elicits antitumor immunity and synergizes with anti-PD-1 therapy. J Immunother Cancer 2021; 9:e001749. [PMID: 33589525 PMCID: PMC7887378 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2020-001749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Modulation and depletion strategies of regulatory T cells (Tregs) constitute valid approaches in antitumor immunotherapy but suffer from severe adverse effects due to their lack of selectivity for the tumor-infiltrating (ti-)Treg population, indicating the need for a ti-Treg specific biomarker. METHODS We employed single-cell RNA-sequencing in a mouse model of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) to obtain a comprehensive overview of the tumor-infiltrating T-cell compartment, with a focus on ti-Treg subpopulations. These findings were validated by flow cytometric analysis of both mouse (LLC-OVA, MC38 and B16-OVA) and human (NSCLC and melanoma) tumor samples. We generated two CCR8-specific nanobodies (Nbs) that recognize distinct epitopes on the CCR8 extracellular domain. These Nbs were formulated as tetravalent Nb-Fc fusion proteins for optimal CCR8 binding and blocking, containing either an antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC)-deficient or an ADCC-prone Fc region. The therapeutic use of these Nb-Fc fusion proteins was evaluated, either as monotherapy or as combination therapy with anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (anti-PD-1), in both the LLC-OVA and MC38 mouse models. RESULTS We were able to discern two ti-Treg populations, one of which is characterized by the unique expression of Ccr8 in conjunction with Treg activation markers. Ccr8 is also expressed by dysfunctional CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, but the CCR8 protein was only prominent on the highly activated and strongly T-cell suppressive ti-Treg subpopulation of mouse and human tumors, with no major CCR8-positivity found on peripheral Tregs. CCR8 expression resulted from TCR-mediated Treg triggering in an NF-κB-dependent fashion, but was not essential for the recruitment, activation nor suppressive capacity of these cells. While treatment of tumor-bearing mice with a blocking ADCC-deficient Nb-Fc did not influence tumor growth, ADCC-prone Nb-Fc elicited antitumor immunity and reduced tumor growth in synergy with anti-PD-1 therapy. Importantly, ADCC-prone Nb-Fc specifically depleted ti-Tregs in a natural killer (NK) cell-dependent fashion without affecting peripheral Tregs. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, our findings highlight the efficacy and safety of targeting CCR8 for the depletion of tumor-promoting ti-Tregs in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological/pharmacology
- Carcinoma, Lewis Lung/genetics
- Carcinoma, Lewis Lung/immunology
- Carcinoma, Lewis Lung/metabolism
- Carcinoma, Lewis Lung/therapy
- Combined Modality Therapy
- Databases, Genetic
- Female
- Gene Expression Profiling
- Humans
- Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors/pharmacology
- Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy
- Lung Neoplasms/genetics
- Lung Neoplasms/immunology
- Lung Neoplasms/metabolism
- Lymphocyte Depletion
- Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/immunology
- Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/metabolism
- Melanoma, Experimental/genetics
- Melanoma, Experimental/immunology
- Melanoma, Experimental/metabolism
- Melanoma, Experimental/therapy
- Mice, Inbred C57BL
- Mice, Knockout
- Molecular Targeted Therapy
- Phenotype
- Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor/antagonists & inhibitors
- Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor/metabolism
- RNA-Seq
- Receptors, CCR8/deficiency
- Receptors, CCR8/genetics
- Skin Neoplasms/genetics
- Skin Neoplasms/immunology
- Skin Neoplasms/metabolism
- Skin Neoplasms/therapy
- T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/immunology
- T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/metabolism
- Mice
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Affiliation(s)
- Helena Van Damme
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | | | - Máté Kiss
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | | | | | - Eva Van Overmeire
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Daliya Kancheva
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Liesbet Martens
- VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, VIB, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Aleksandar Murgaski
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Pauline Madeleine Rachel Bardet
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Gillian Blancke
- Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Host-Microbiota-Interaction Lab (HMI), VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Maude Jans
- Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Host-Microbiota-Interaction Lab (HMI), VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Evangelia Bolli
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Maria Solange Martins
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Yvon Elkrim
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - James Dooley
- Laboratory of Lymphocyte Signalling and Development, Babraham Institute, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK
| | - Louis Boon
- Polpharma Biologics, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | - Frank Tacke
- Department of Medicine III, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
| | - Kiavash Movahedi
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Niels Vandamme
- Data Mining and Modelling for Biomedicine, VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Bart Neyns
- Department of Medical Oncology, UZ Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sebahat Ocak
- Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique (IREC), Pôle de Pneumologie, ORL et Dermatologie (PNEU), UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Division of Pneumology, CHU UCL Namur, Yvoir, Namur, Belgium
| | - Isabelle Scheyltjens
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Lars Vereecke
- Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Host-Microbiota-Interaction Lab (HMI), VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Frank Aboubakar Nana
- Division of Pneumology, CHU UCL Namur, Yvoir, Namur, Belgium
- Division of Pneumology, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium
| | | | - Damya Laoui
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Jo Agnes Van Ginderachter
- Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
- Myeloid Cell Immunology Lab, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Brussels, Belgium
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