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Case Studies/Case Illustration |
Departments of Neurosurgery (A.B.H., W.S., S.F.H., L.C., S.J.H., R.S.), Neuropathology (K.A.), and Neuro-Oncology (M.G.), The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (A.B.H., M.D., S.J.H., R.S.); and Division of Neurosurgery, Departments of Surgery (B.S., G.E.A., D.A.M., J.H.S.) and Pathology (D.D.B., J.H.S.), Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; USA
Address correspondence to Amy B. Heimberger, Unit 442, Department of Neurosurgery, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030-4009, USA (aheimber{at}mdanderson.org).
| Abstract |
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Key Words: active immunotherapy antibody antigen CNS neoplasms cytotoxic T lymphocyte epidermal growth factor receptor glioma
| Introduction |
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Multiple preclinical model systems have demonstrated that the depletion of immune cell subsets can abrogate the efficacy of several types of immunotherapeutic approaches,11 indicating that chemotherapy administered during the effector stages of immunotherapy may be deleterious. However, this does not preclude using these agents together when appropriately timed to minimize the aforementioned effects. Furthermore, the depletion of certain suppressive lymphocyte subsets, such as regulatory T cells (Tregs),12,13 may be a highly desirable outcome of chemotherapy, including TMZ,4 yielding greater immunotherapeutic efficacy or possibly promoting a desirable cytokine profile14 for adequate tumor control.
| Case Material and Results |
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We then treated the patient with three intradermal injections of an EGFRvIII-specific peptide, PEPvIII (LEEKKGNYVVTDHC), conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (PEPvIII-KLH) to stimulate antibody responses at a 1:1 ratio (wt/wt; 500 µg/immunization), along with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (140 µg/immunization) every 2 weeks over an interval of 6 weeks. Prior to vaccination, the patient underwent leukapheresis to obtain sufficient cells for monitoring immunological responses to the vaccine. A second leukapheresis was also obtained after the third vaccination for the same purpose. After the third vaccination, maintenance cycles of TMZ were started at a dose of 150 mg/m2 on days 1-5 of each 28-day cycle. Beginning on day 19 of each cycle, complete blood counts were monitored every other day until there was evidence of recovery of the white blood cell count nadir, at which point the patient received the vaccine intradermally, usually on day 23 (range = 19-25) of his 28-day cycle (Fig. 3).
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To determine if PEPvIII-specific humoral responses were induced, serum was obtained from the patient monthly and analyzed in a PEPvIII-Dynabead assay (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) in which PEPvIII or the extracellular domain of EGFRvIII (EGFRvIII-ECD) was covalently linked to magnetic microspheres that were used to capture specific antibodies from the patient's serum. To determine specificity, an additional sample set was preincubated for 15 min with 500 ng of the PEPvIII peptide to block any anti-PEPvIII that would be captured by the PEPvIII-conjugated Dynabeads. Standards of human-mouse chimeric anti-PEPvIII antibody (81-0.11 ng/ml) were run with each assay along with a positive patient sample and negative (normal donor serum) controls. Prior to the administration of the vaccine, no humoral responses to the EGFRvIII were detected by either PEPvIII-labeled or EGFRvIII-ECD-labeled beads. After vaccination, there was a significant increase in the immunoglobulin G (IgG) response to EGFRvIII. The magnitude of the response was equivalent against both PEPvIII and EGFRvIII-ECD. These humoral responses have been maintained despite the continued administration of TMZ (Fig. 4). In preclinical models systems, in vivo depletion assays and serum transfers demonstrated that antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity contributed to the efficacy of the PEPvIII-KLH vaccine.11
To determine if there was a cumulative decline of the patient's overall white blood count, absolute CD4 or absolute CD8 counts were monitored at least every 2 weeks from the time of diagnosis. As anticipated, there was monthly variability in response to the administration of TMZ, but there was no cumulative decline. To further clarify whether TMZ would affect the induced CD8+ cytotoxic responses to PEPvIII, the patient's peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from each leukapheresis and monthly PBMC were stimulated with PEP-1 (HDTVYCVKGNKELE; 10 µg/ml) as a negative control or with the PEPvIII (10 µg/ml) vaccine component. Mouse antihuman CD28 and CD49d antibodies (eBioscience, San Diego, CA, USA) at final concentrations of 2 µg/ml provided T-cell costimulation.16 The negative control consisted of unstimulated cells. The cells were stained for surface markers (CD3, CD4, CD8) by incubation with the appropriate fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled and allophycocyanin (APC)-labeled primary antibody or isotype control (BD Biosciences Pharmingen, San Diego, CA, USA). Peptide-specific intracellular cytokine analysis was performed as previously described17 and included corresponding isotype controls. After staining, cells were washed, and a minimum of 1 x 105 live, gated events were assessed by flow cytometry on a FACSCalibur flow cytometer using Cellquest software (BD Immunocytometry Systems, San Jose, CA, USA). Prior to receiving the vaccine, the patient had minimal response with the unstimulated control (0.11% CD3+CD8+ gamma-interferon [
-IFN]-producing T cells) and with the PEP-1-negative control (0.08% CD3+CD8+
-IFN-producing T cells). Prior to receiving the vaccine, there were only 0.06% CD3+CD8+
-IFN-producing PEPvIII-specific T cells. After receiving the first three vaccinations, there was an increase in PEPvIII-specific
-IFN-producing T cells to 0.81%. Despite the sequential administration of TMZ and the peptide vaccine, the percentage of responding CD3+CD8+
-IFN-producing PEPvIII-specific T cells persisted at 0.57% (Fig. 5). Furthermore, CD3+CD8+ alpha-tumor necrosis factor (
-TNF)-producing and CD3+CD4+
-TNF-producing PEPvIII-specific T cells were induced (Fig. 5),17 indicating the induction of proinflammatory and antitumor immune activity.
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To characterize the response of the various T-cell populations during a cycle of TMZ (5/28 schedule) and concurrently administered vaccine (day 23 in this example), we obtained peripheral blood on days 0, 3, 5, 12, 19, 23, 25, and 26. Using flow cytometry, we investigated the percentage of the CD8+ T-cell and CD4+FoxP3+ Treg subsets during this cycle. All fluorescently labeled monoclonal antibodies (mAbs; PerCP[Cy5.5]-CD3, FITC-CD8, APC-CD4) were purchased from BD Biosciences, except for the FITC-labeled mAb of FoxP3, which was made by eBioscience. The surface and intracellular staining of peripheral blood cells was performed according to the standard procedures provided by the manufacturer. In contrast to the decline of the CD8+ T-cell subset, the Treg population started to increase after the administration of TMZ for 3 days and reached its peak (9.38% of total CD4+ T cells) on day 19. The Tregs then began to drop until day 23, while the CD8+ T-cell numbers started to recover. At the end of the course, both the CD8+ T-cell and Treg populations recovered to pretreatment levels (Fig. 6). The vaccination resulted in a boost in numbers of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells at a time when Tregs were relatively diminished.
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Over 30 months, the patient underwent a complete physical examination and brain MR imaging at 2-month intervals. His exam remained stable, and he worked full time as a physician without impairment with a KPS of 100% and a Mini Mental State Exam score of 30/30. At 30 months he progressed and is receiving adjuvant therapy.
| Discussion |
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-IFN-producing T cells induced by vaccination do not appear to be diminished during cycles of concurrently administered TMZ, which was monitored during the third leukapheresis. In addition, PEPvIII-specific IgG responses were induced after the third vaccination and have been maintained while the concurrent TMZ was administered. Finally, we have followed the CD8+ T-cell and Treg populations during a single treatment cycle and found that there appears to be a window of T-effector (CD8+ T cell) responsiveness with a relative diminution of Tregs. Thus, the concurrent administration of TMZ during active immunization, in the manner we described, does not appear to diminish the induced immune responses. The use of lymphodepletion to augment immunological responses has been described both in murine model systems18,19 and in human cancer patients.20,21 Multiple mechanisms have been proposed to be responsible for these enhanced antitumor responses. Lymphodepletion may remove competition at the surface of antigen-presenting cells;22 enhance the availability of cytokines such as interleukin-7 and interleukin-15, which augment T-cell activity;14 and deplete the immune inhibitory Tregs.23 Chemotherapy could also potentially augment immunological responsiveness by enhancing immune priming and presentation,24 antigen expression,25 and targets for immune eradication.26 In a dose-intensive schedule of TMZ of 75 mg/m2/day in cycles of 6 weeks followed by a 2-week break, lymphopenia was induced in 60% of patients and was sustained in most patients for at least 2 months after the drug was discontinued.4 Although this schedule may result in sustained suppressed Tregs, it would theoretically inhibit desirable effector T-cell responses as well. Therefore, we elected to administer a short course of TMZ to allow for the clonotypic expansion of responding PEPvIII-specific T cells. We hypothesized that when a vaccination is administered during the nadir of TMZ, there may be an enhanced effector response. Such effector responses may be secondary to a lag in the recovery of Tregs, thus allowing a greater clonotypic expansion than otherwise would have been seen without TMZ. This was certainly observed during monitored chemotherapy/immunotherapy cycles in this particular patient. The lag of recovery of Tregs relative to effector T cells is not surprising given the normal physiological roles of immune cell responses. In order to mount an immune response, T effectors would need to become activated, proliferate, and mediate their response quickly. However, if this heightened response remained unchecked by hemostatic mechanisms such as Tregs, then the T-cell proliferation would escalate unabated. Therefore, the delay of Treg response would allow for efficacious immune responses but eventual down-modulation/regulation of this response.
| Conclusion |
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| Acknowledgments |
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Received for publication January 8, 2007. Accepted for publication January 24, 2007.
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