Anti-TIGIT antibody improves PD-L1 blockade through myeloid and Treg cells

Tiragolumab, an anti-TIGIT antibody with an active IgG1κ Fc, demonstrated improved outcomes in the phase 2 CITYSCAPE trial (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03563716 ) when combined with atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) versus atezolizumab alone1. However, there remains little consensus on the mechanism(s) of response with this combination2. Here we find that a high baseline of intratumoural macrophages and regulatory T cells is associated with better outcomes in patients treated with atezolizumab plus tiragolumab but not with atezolizumab alone. Serum sample analysis revealed that macrophage activation is associated with a clinical benefit in patients who received the combination treatment. In mouse tumour models, tiragolumab surrogate antibodies inflamed tumour-associated macrophages, monocytes and dendritic cells through Fcγ receptors (FcγR), in turn driving anti-tumour CD8+ T cells from an exhausted effector-like state to a more memory-like state. These results reveal a mechanism of action through which TIGIT checkpoint inhibitors can remodel immunosuppressive tumour microenvironments, and suggest that FcγR engagement is an important consideration in anti-TIGIT antibody development.

Abstract 5712: Anti-TIGIT antibody tiragolumab leverages myeloid cells and regulatory T cells to improve PD-L1 checkpoint blockade

Background: TIGIT is a co-inhibitory receptor and immune checkpoint associated with T cell and natural killer (NK) cell dysfunction in cancer. Tiragolumab is an anti-TIGIT antibody with an active IgG1/kappa Fc. In a randomized double-blind phase 2 clinical trial in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), tiragolumab + atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) combination treatment demonstrated significant improvement relative to atezolizumab alone. However, the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of this combination are not well understood.

Methods: In CITYSCAPE (phase 2, NCT03563716), chemotherapy-naïve patients with locally advanced/metastatic NSCLC received either placebo + 1200 mg atezolizumab or 600 mg tiragolumab + 1200 mg atezolizumab q3w IV. We collected tumor pretreatment samples and serum samples (baseline and on-treatment) from patients enrolled in the trial, which were subject to bulk RNA-seq and proteomics, respectively. In the mouse tumor model, BALB/c mice were implanted with syngeneic CT26 tumors. After tumor establishment, mice were randomized by tumor volume and then treated with control IgG2a, anti-PD-L1, anti-TIGIT IgG2a-LALAPG (Fc-inactive) ± anti-PD-L1, anti-TIGIT IgG2b ± anti-PD-L1, or anti-TIGIT IgG2a ± anti-PD-L1. Three days after treatment, CD45+ immune cells were collected from the peripheral blood and tumor from selected treatment groups and underwent single cell RNA sequencing or flow cytometry profiling. Tumor growth was also monitored to determine efficacy.

Results: Here, we show that tiragolumab functions as both a conventional checkpoint inhibitor and, via Fc gamma receptor engagement, as a modulator of immunosuppressive myeloid cells and T regulatory (Treg) cells. Gene expression analysis of patient tumor samples revealed high levels of these cell subsets, were instead associated with treatment benefit in the tiragolumab + atezolizumab arm but not atezolizumab arm. Analysis of patient serum proteins suggested an association of myeloid cell activation with clinical benefit mediated by the combination therapy. In mouse tumor models, treatment with anti-PD-L1 + anti-TIGIT IgG2a (but not anti-TIGIT IgG2b or Fc-silent anti-TIGIT) led to effective tumor control in mice, suggesting a pivotal role for activating Fc receptors. Phenotypic profiling by single cell RNAseq and flow cytometry revealed that Fc-active anti-TIGIT remodels the tumor microenvironment, most prominently by inducing antigen presentation machinery in myeloid cells, counteracting of anti-PDL1-enforced CD8+ T cell exhaustion, and reducing Treg suppressive capacity.

Conclusions: These findings reveal that FcR engagement is one of several distinct mechanisms by which tiragolumab unleashes antitumor immune responses, and inform further clinical development of anti-TIGIT therapies.

Citation Format: Namrata S. Patil, Shyam Srivats, Yoonha Choi, Xiangnan Guan, Barzin Nabet, Lisa McGinnis, Eugene Chiang, Alexis Dunkle, Bill O’Gorman, Patrick S. Chang, Ruozhen Hu, John Silva, Joy Han, Amelia Au-Yeung, Chikara Takahashi, Nandini Molden, Pallavi Daggumati, Wendy Connolly, Melissa Johnson, Delvys Rodriguez Abreu, Byoung Chul Cho, Antoine Italiano, Ignacio Gil-Bazo, Enriqueta Felip, Ira Mellman, Raymond Meng, Sanjeev Mariathasan, Robert Johnston, David S. Shames. Anti-TIGIT antibody tiragolumab leverages myeloid cells and regulatory T cells to improve PD-L1 checkpoint blockade. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 5712.

Electrically Guided DNA Immobilization and Multiplexed DNA Detection with Nanoporous Gold Electrodes

Molecular diagnostics have significantly advanced the early detection of diseases, where the electrochemical sensing of biomarkers (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins) using multiple electrode arrays (MEAs) has shown considerable promise. Nanostructuring the electrode surface results in higher surface coverage of capture probes and more favorable orientation, as well as transport phenomena unique to nanoscale, ultimately leading to enhanced sensor performance. The central goal of this study is to investigate the influence of electrode nanostructure on electrically-guided immobilization of DNA probes for nucleic acid detection in a multiplexed format. To that end, we used nanoporous gold (np-Au) electrodes that reduced the limit of detection (LOD) for DNA targets by two orders of magnitude compared to their planar counterparts, where the LOD was further improved by an additional order of magnitude after reducing the electrode diameter. The reduced electrode diameter also made it possible to create a np-Au MEA encapsulated in a microfluidic channel. The electro-grafting reduced the necessary incubation time to immobilize DNA probes into the porous electrodes down to 10 min (25-fold reduction compared to passive immobilization) and allowed for grafting a different DNA probe sequence onto each electrode in the array. The resulting platform was successfully used for the multiplexed detection of three different biomarker genes relevant to breast cancer diagnosis.

Nanoporous-Gold-Based Electrode Morphology Libraries for Investigating Structure-Property Relationships in Nucleic Acid Based Electrochemical Biosensors

Nanoporous gold (np-Au) electrode coatings significantly enhance the performance of electrochemical nucleic acid biosensors because of their three-dimensional nanoscale network, high electrical conductivity, facile surface functionalization, and biocompatibility. Contrary to planar electrodes, the np-Au electrodes also exhibit sensitive detection in the presence of common biofouling media due to their porous structure. However, the pore size of the nanomatrix plays a critical role in dictating the extent of biomolecular capture and transport. Small pores perform better in the case of target detection in complex samples by filtering out the large nonspecific proteins. On the other hand, larger pores increase the accessibility of target nucleic acids in the nanoporous structure, enhancing the detection limits of the sensor at the expense of more interference from biofouling molecules. Here, we report a microfabricated np-Au multiple electrode array that displays a range of electrode morphologies on the same chip for identifying feature sizes that reduce the nonspecific adsorption of proteins but facilitate the permeation of target DNA molecules into the pores. We demonstrate the utility of the electrode morphology library in studying DNA functionalization and target detection in complex biological media with a special emphasis on revealing ranges of electrode morphologies that mutually enhance the limit of detection and biofouling resilience. We expect this technique to assist in the development of high-performance biosensors for point-of-care diagnostics and facilitate studies on the electrode structure-property relationships in potential applications ranging from neural electrodes to catalysts.

Sequence-Specific Electrical Purification of Nucleic Acids with Nanoporous Gold Electrodes

Nucleic-acid-based biosensors have enabled rapid and sensitive detection of pathogenic targets; however, these devices often require purified nucleic acids for analysis since the constituents of complex biological fluids adversely affect sensor performance. This purification step is typically performed outside the device, thereby increasing sample-to-answer time and introducing contaminants. We report a novel approach using a multifunctional matrix, nanoporous gold (np-Au), which enables both detection of specific target sequences in a complex biological sample and their subsequent purification. The np-Au electrodes modified with 26-mer DNA probes (via thiol-gold chemistry) enabled sensitive detection and capture of complementary DNA targets in the presence of complex media (fetal bovine serum) and other interfering DNA fragments in the range of 50-1500 base pairs. Upon capture, the noncomplementary DNA fragments and serum constituents of varying sizes were washed away. Finally, the surface-bound DNA-DNA hybrids were released by electrochemically cleaving the thiol-gold linkage, and the hybrids were iontophoretically eluted from the nanoporous matrix. The optical and electrophoretic characterization of the analytes before and after the detection-purification process revealed that low target DNA concentrations (80 pg/μL) can be successfully detected in complex biological fluids and subsequently released to yield pure hybrids free of polydisperse digested DNA fragments and serum biomolecules. Taken together, this multifunctional platform is expected to enable seamless integration of detection and purification of nucleic acid biomarkers of pathogens and diseases in miniaturized diagnostic devices.

Substrate Topography Guides Pore Morphology Evolution in Nanoporous Gold Thin Films

This paper illustrates the effect of substrate topography on morphology evolution in nanoporous gold (np-Au) thin films. One micron-high silicon ridges with widths varying between 150 nm to 50 µm were fabricated and coated with 500 nm-thick np-Au films obtained by dealloying sputtered gold-silver alloy films. Analysis of scanning electron micrographs of the np-Au films following dealloying and thermal annealing revealed two distinct regimes where the ratio of film thickness to ridge width determines the morphological evolution of np-Au films.

Molecular release from patterned nanoporous gold thin films

Nanostructured materials have shown significant potential for biomedical applications that require high loading capacity and controlled release of drugs. Nanoporous gold (np-Au), produced by an alloy corrosion process, is a promising novel material that benefits from compatibility with microfabrication, tunable pore morphology, electrical conductivity, well-established gold-thiol conjugate chemistry, and biocompatibility. While np-Au's non-biological applications are abundant, its performance in the biomedical field is nascent. In this work, we employ a combination of techniques including nanoporous thin film synthesis, quantitative electron microscopy, fluorospectrometry, and electrochemical surface characterization to study loading capacity and molecular release kinetics as a function of film properties and discuss underlying mechanisms. The sub-micron-thick sputter-coated nanoporous gold films provide small-molecule loading capacities up to 1.12 μg cm(-2) and molecular release half-lives between 3.6 hours to 12.8 hours. A systematic set of studies reveals that effective surface area of the np-Au thin films on glass substrates plays the largest role in determining loading capacity. The release kinetics on the other hand depends on a complex interplay of micro- and nano-scale morphological features.

Fabrication and characterization of flexible and tunable plasmonic nanostructures

We present a novel method to fabricate flexible and tunable plasmonic nanostructures based on combination of soft lithography and nanosphere lithography, and perform a comprehensive structural and optical characterization of these structures. Spherical latex particles are uniformly deposited on glass slides and used as molds for polydimethylsiloxane to obtain nanovoid structures. The diameter and depth of the nanostructures are controlled by the size of the latex particles. These surfaces are coated with a thin Ag layer for fabrication of uniform plasmonic nanostructures. Structural characterization of these surfaces is performed by SEM and AFM. Optical properties of these plasmonic nanostructures are evaluated via UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, dark field microscopy, and surface–enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Position of the surface plasmon absorption depends on the diameter and depth of the nanostructures. SERS enhancement factor (measured up to 1.4 × 10⁶) is dependent on the plasmon absorption wavelength and laser wavelength used in these experiments.

Microfabrication of nanoporous gold patterns for cell-material interaction studies

Nanostructured materials with feature sizes in tens of nanometers have enhanced the performance of several technologies, including fuel cells, biosensors, biomedical device coatings, and drug delivery tools. Nanoporous gold (np-Au), produced by a nano-scale self-assembly process, is a relatively new material that exhibits large effective surface area, high electrical conductivity, and catalytic activity. These properties have made np-Au an attractive material to scientific community. Most studies on np-Au employ macro-scale specimens and focus on fundamental science of the material and its catalytic and sensor applications. The macro-scale specimens limit np-Au's potential in miniaturized systems, including biomedical devices. In order to address these issues, we initially describe two different methods to micropattern np-Au thin films on rigid substrates. The first method employs manually-produced stencil masks for creating millimeter-scale np-Au patterns, while the second method uses lift-off photolithography to pattern sub-millimeter-scale patterns. As the np-Au thin films are obtained by sputter-deposition process, they are compatible with conventional microfabrication techniques, thereby amenable to facile integration into microsystems. These systems include electrically-addressable biosensor platforms that benefit from high effective surface area, electrical conductivity, and gold-thiol-based surface bioconjugation. We describe cell culture, immunostaining, and image processing techniques to quantify np-Au's interaction with mammalian cells, which is an important performance parameter for some biosensors. We expect that the techniques illustrated here will assist the integration of np-Au in platforms at various length-scales and in numerous applications, including biosensors, energy storage systems, and catalysts.