Abstract 1909: Pan-TGF-β inhibition with PD-1 blockade as a combination treatment strategy to augment anti-tumor immune response in hepatocellular carcinoma

Autor: Alexei Protopopov, Tun Tun Lin, Andrew Hebert, Sukhvinder Sidhu, Lily Pao, Kevin Atchison, Adalis Maisonet, Tatiana Tolstykh, Dmitri Wiederschain, Jack Pollard, Sharad K. Sharma, Joachim Theilhaber, Mikhail Levit, Natalia Malkova, Sara Sara Sinicropi-Yao
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Cancer Research. 81:1909-1909
ISSN: 1538-7445
0008-5472
Popis: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, accounting for more than 700,000 deaths per year. Although transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) can function as a tumor-suppressor in premalignant cells, patient data suggest that it plays a role in the progression of HCC. Recently, immunotherapy targeting PD-1 has been approved for HCC, however, success is limited to only ~17% objective response rate in the treated HCC patients. Analysis of genomic data from two HCC patient cohorts revealed that TGF-β pathway is highly activated in patients with advanced HCC. Collectively, these findings indicate that targeting TGF-β in combination with PD-1 blockade may be a compelling therapeutic strategy. Therefore, using two syngeneic mouse models of HCC (Hepa1-6 and H22), we examined the effect of a pan-TGF-β neutralizing antibody (1D11) in combination with PD-1 blockade. Results from our study show that co-inhibiting TGF-β with PD-1 resulted in significant tumor growth inhibition in both HCC models. Flow cytometry analysis of the tumor revealed the combination treatment group exhibited a reduction in potentially suppressive tumor-associated-macrophages relative to either single agent groups. In addition, we show that combination therapy was associated with increase in the intra-tumoral levels of proinflammatory cytokines - IFNγ, IL-1β, TNF-α as well as enhanced expression of anti-tumor immune related genes. Based on these data, clinical testing of SAR439459 (TGF-β antibody) and Cemiplimab (anti-PD1) combination has recently been initiated in HCC patients (NCT03192345). Citation Format: Natalia Malkova, Joachim Theilhaber, Mikhail Levit, Tatiana Tolstykh, Andrew Hebert, Kevin Atchison, Adalis Maisonet, Sara Sara Sinicropi-Yao, Alexei Protopopov, Jack Pollard, Sukhvinder Sidhu, Tun Tun Lin, Lily Pao, Dmitri Wiederschain, Sharad K. Sharma. Pan-TGF-β inhibition with PD-1 blockade as a combination treatment strategy to augment anti-tumor immune response in hepatocellular carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1909.
Databáze: OpenAIRE