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Quixabeira DCA, Pakola S, Jirovec E, Havunen R, Basnet S, Santos JM, Kudling TV, Clubb JHA, Haybout L, Arias V, Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela S, Cervera-Carrascon V, Kerkelä E, Pasanen A, Anttila M, Tapper J, Kanerva A, Hemminki A. Boosting cytotoxicity of adoptive allogeneic NK cell therapy with an oncolytic adenovirus encoding a human vIL-2 cytokine for the treatment of human ovarian cancer. Cancer Gene Ther 2023; 30:1679-1690. [PMID: 37949944 PMCID: PMC10721546 DOI: 10.1038/s41417-023-00674-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
Despite good results in the treatment of hematological malignancies, Natural killer (NK) cells have shown limited effectiveness in solid tumors, such as ovarian cancer (OvCa). Here, we assessed the potential of an oncolytic adenovirus expressing a variant interleukin-2 (vIL-2) cytokine, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 (vIL-2 virus), also known as TILT-452, to enhance NK cell therapy efficacy in human OvCa ex vivo. Human OvCa surgical specimens were processed into single-cell suspensions and NK cells were expanded from healthy blood donors. OvCa sample digests were co-cultured ex vivo with NK cells and vIL-2 virus and cancer cell killing potential assessed in real time through cell impedance measurement. Proposed therapeutic combination was evaluated in vivo with an OvCa patient-derived xenograft (PDX) in mice. Addition of vIL-2 virus significantly enhanced NK cell therapy killing potential in treated OvCa co-cultures. Similarly, vIL-2 virus in combination with NK cell therapy promoted the best in vivo OvCa tumor control. Mechanistically, vIL-2 virus induced higher percentages of granzyme B in NK cells, and CD8+ T cells, while T regulatory cell proportions remained comparable to NK cell monotherapy in vivo. Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 virus treatment represents a promising strategy to boost adoptive NK cell therapeutic effect in human OvCa.
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Affiliation(s)
- D C A Quixabeira
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - S Pakola
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - E Jirovec
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - R Havunen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - S Basnet
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J M Santos
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - T V Kudling
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J H A Clubb
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - L Haybout
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - V Arias
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - S Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - V Cervera-Carrascon
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - E Kerkelä
- Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Pasanen
- Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Anttila
- Pathology, Finnish Food Authority, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J Tapper
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Kanerva
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.
- Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland.
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Quixabeira DCA, Jirovec E, Pakola S, Havunen R, Basnet S, Santos JM, Kudling TV, Clubb JHA, Haybout L, Arias V, Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela S, Cervera-Carrascon V, Pasanen A, Anttila M, Tapper J, Kanerva A, Hemminki A. Improving the cytotoxic response of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes towards advanced stage ovarian cancer with an oncolytic adenovirus expressing a human vIL-2 cytokine. Cancer Gene Ther 2023; 30:1543-1553. [PMID: 37666898 PMCID: PMC10645590 DOI: 10.1038/s41417-023-00658-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
While the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) associates with improved survival prognosis in ovarian cancer (OvCa) patients, TIL therapy benefit is limited. Here, we evaluated an oncolytic adenovirus coding for a human variant IL-2 (vIL-2) cytokine, Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 (vIL-2 virus), also known as TILT-452, as an immunotherapeutic strategy to enhance TIL responsiveness towards advanced stage OvCa tumors. Fragments of resected human OvCa tumors were processed into single-cell suspensions, and autologous TILs were expanded from said samples. OvCa tumor specimens were co-cultured with TILs plus vIL-2 virus, and cell killing was assessed in real time through cell impedance measurement. Combination therapy was further evaluated in vivo through a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) ovarian cancer murine model. The combination of vIL-2 virus plus TILs had best cancer cell killing ex vivo compared to TILs monotherapy. These results were supported by an in vivo experiment, where the best OvCa tumor control was obtained when vIL-2 virus was added to TIL therapy. Furthermore, the proposed therapy induced a highly cytotoxic phenotype demonstrated by increased granzyme B intensity in NK cells, CD4+ T, and CD8+ T cells in treated tumors. Our results demonstrate that Ad5/3-E2F-d24-vIL2 therapy consistently improved TILs therapy cytotoxicity in treated human OvCa tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- D C A Quixabeira
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - E Jirovec
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - S Pakola
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - R Havunen
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - S Basnet
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J M Santos
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - T V Kudling
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J H A Clubb
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - L Haybout
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - V Arias
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - S Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - V Cervera-Carrascon
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Pasanen
- Department of Pathology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Anttila
- Pathology, Finnish Food Authority, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J Tapper
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Kanerva
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - A Hemminki
- Cancer Gene Therapy Group, Translational Immunology Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.
- Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland.
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Lee MH, Theodoropoulos J, Huuhtanen J, Bhattacharya D, Järvinen P, Tornberg S, Nísen H, Mirtti T, Uski I, Kumari A, Peltonen K, Draghi A, Donia M, Kreutzman A, Mustjoki S. Immunologic Characterization and T cell Receptor Repertoires of Expanded Tumor-infiltrating Lymphocytes in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma. Cancer Res Commun 2023; 3:1260-1276. [PMID: 37484198 PMCID: PMC10361538 DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.crc-22-0514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 06/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023]
Abstract
The successful use of expanded tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in adoptive TIL therapies has been reported, but the effects of the TIL expansion, immunophenotype, function, and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of the infused products relative to the tumor microenvironment (TME) are not well understood. In this study, we analyzed the tumor samples (n = 58) from treatment-naïve patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), "pre-rapidly expanded" TILs (pre-REP TIL, n = 15) and "rapidly expanded" TILs (REP TIL, n = 25) according to a clinical-grade TIL production protocol, with single-cell RNA (scRNA)+TCRαβ-seq (TCRαβ sequencing), TCRβ-sequencing (TCRβ-seq), and flow cytometry. REP TILs encompassed a greater abundance of CD4+ than CD8+ T cells, with increased LAG-3 and low PD-1 expressions in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell compartments compared with the pre-REP TIL and tumor T cells. The REP protocol preferentially expanded small clones of the CD4+ phenotype (CD4, IL7R, KLRB1) in the TME, indicating that the largest exhausted T cell clones in the tumor do not expand during the expansion protocol. In addition, by generating a catalog of RCC-associated TCR motifs from >1,000 scRNA+TCRαβ-seq and TCRβ-seq RCC, healthy and other cancer sample cohorts, we quantified the RCC-associated TCRs from the expansion protocol. Unlike the low-remaining amount of anti-viral TCRs throughout the expansion, the quantity of the RCC-associated TCRs was high in the tumors and pre-REP TILs but decreased in the REP TILs. Our results provide an in-depth understanding of the origin, phenotype, and TCR specificity of RCC TIL products, paving the way for a more rationalized production of TILs. Significance TILs are a heterogenous group of immune cells that recognize and attack the tumor, thus are utilized in various clinical trials. In our study, we explored the TILs in patients with kidney cancer by expanding the TILs using a clinical-grade protocol, as well as observed their characteristics and ability to recognize the tumor using in-depth experimental and computational tools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moon Hee Lee
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jason Theodoropoulos
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jani Huuhtanen
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Dipabarna Bhattacharya
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Petrus Järvinen
- Abdominal Center, Urology, Helsinki University and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sara Tornberg
- Abdominal Center, Urology, Helsinki University and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Harry Nísen
- Abdominal Center, Urology, Helsinki University and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tuomas Mirtti
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Pathology, HUS Diagnostic Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Ilona Uski
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anita Kumari
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Karita Peltonen
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Arianna Draghi
- National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Department of Oncology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark
| | - Marco Donia
- National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Department of Oncology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark
| | - Anna Kreutzman
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Satu Mustjoki
- Hematology Research Unit Helsinki, Department of Clinical Chemistry and Hematology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center, Helsinki, Finland
- Translational Immunology Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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