Hwu, Patrick

2510 Background: Blocking the interaction between programmed death-1 (PD-1), a co-inhibitory receptor expressed by activated T cells, and its ligand PD-L1 may enhance T-cell function. Here we describe the safety and activity from the first clinical study of BMS-936559 in patients (pts) with advanced solid tumors, further validating the importance of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway as a target for cancer therapy. Methods: BMS-936559 was given Q2 wk IV in a 6-wk cycle at doses of 0.3−10.0 mg/kg during dose escalation and/or cohort expansion; pts could receive up to 16 cycles (48 doses). Results: As of August 1, 2011, 162 pts with melanoma (MEL, n=53), non-small-cell lung (NSCLC, n=50), colorectal (n=18), renal cell (RCC, n=17), ovarian (n=17), and pancreatic (n=7) cancer were treated. Median therapy duration was 11 wks (max 99 wks). Common related adverse events (rAEs; ≥5% pts) included fatigue, diarrhea, infusion reaction, arthralgia, rash, and pruritus. The incidence of grade 3-4 rAEs was 8.6%. AEs of special interest included hypothyroidism, hepatitis, sarcoidosis, endophthalmitis, and myasthenia gravis; there were no drug-related deaths. Clinical activity was observed in MEL, RCC, and NSCLC. Objective responses (ORs; RECIST 1.0) were observed in heavily pretreated pts. ORs were durable; among 16 pts with ORs, 7 had responses lasting ≥1 yr. Two other pts had ongoing ORs with durations of 2.3 and 8.5 mo at data lock. Several pts had prolonged stable disease. Some pts had a persistent reduction in overall tumor burden in the presence of new lesions but were not categorized as responders. In NSCLC, ORs were observed irrespective of histology. Conclusions: BMS-936559 was active and generally well tolerated in pts with NSCLC, RCC, and MEL. In conjunction with data from anti-PD-1/BMS-936558 trials, this study concurrently validates the importance of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway for cancer immunotherapy and supports further clinical development of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 directed therapy. [Table: see text]

Abstract Purpose: LV305 is a modified, third-generation, nonreplicating, integration-deficient lentivirus-based vector designed to selectively transduce dendritic cells in vivo. LV305 induces expression of the New York Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma-1 (NY-ESO-1) cancer testis antigen in dendritic cells, promoting immune responses against NY-ESO-1–expressing tumors. This phase I study evaluated the safety, immunogenicity, and preliminary efficacy of LV305 in patients with sarcoma or other solid tumors. Patients and Methods: Adults with previously treated, advanced, NY-ESO-1–positive solid tumors and limited tumor burden were eligible. LV305 was administered every 3 weeks by intradermal injection in four dose cohorts (Cohort 1: 108 vector genomes (vg) x 3 doses; Cohorts 1A, 2, and 3: 108 vg, 109 vg, 1010 vg x 4 doses). Results: Thirty-nine patients were enrolled: 3 patients each in Cohorts 1, 1A, and 2, and 30 patients in Cohort 3. No dose-limiting toxicities were observed. Tumor types included sarcoma (n = 24), ovarian (n = 8), melanoma (n = 6), and lung cancer (n = 1). All treatment-related adverse events were grade 1 or 2. Common treatment-related adverse events were fatigue (49%), injection site reactions (46%), and myalgia (21%). The disease control rate was 56.4% in all patients and 62.5% in sarcoma patients. One patient with synovial sarcoma achieved a partial response lasting >36 months. Anti–NY-ESO-1-specific CD4+ and/or CD8+ T cells were induced in 57% of evaluable sarcoma patients. Induction of an anti–NY-ESO-1 immune response was associated with improved 1-year survival in an exploratory analysis. Conclusions: This first-in-class, first-in-human study of LV305 demonstrated a favorable safety profile, induction of antigen-specific responses, and potential clinical activity in patients with advanced cancer.

Abstract Introduction Recent advances in stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) have improved clinical outcomes in patients with limited intracranial metastases. As a result of this high-dose radiation delivery to a focal area within the brain, tissue structural and functional changes within the treatment field are often difficult to distinguish from local tumor recurrence based on conventional imaging techniques. Here, we demonstrate that elevation of circulating cells of myeloid origin, the key regulators of inflammation and immune responses, can serve as a potential surrogate marker to differentiate radiation-induced tissues changes from local tumor recurrence. Materials and Methods We retrospectively identified 96 patients who were initially treated with Gamma-knife radiosurgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center from 2009-2013 for brain metastases, and subsequently underwent surgical resection of previous irradiated lesions after presenting with clinical symptoms and radiographic findings suggestive of tumor progression. All surgical specimens were centrally reviewed by neuropathology. Pre-operative circulating blood cell profiles were analyzed for monocytic, granulocytic and lymphocytic sub-populations. Results A total of 11 and 85 patients who underwent surgical resection after prior SRS for brain metastasis were pathologically confirmed to have radiation-induced changes or tumor recurrence, respectively. Among patients with confirmed recurrence vs. those with radiation-induced changes, the number of circulating immature granulocytes (mean = 0.093 × 103ul−1 vs 0.032 × 103ul−1, p = 0.075) and monocytes (mean = 0.632 × 103ul−1 vs 0.401 × 103ul−1, p = 0.007) were elevated when compared to patients with radiation-induced changes (combined: mean = 0.71 × 103ul−1 vs 0.43 × 103ul−1, p = 0.002). No statistically significant differences were observed among mature granulocytic or lymphocytic populations between the two groups. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed significant discriminative utility of pre-operative myeloid cell count when compared to reference line of no discrimination (AUC = 0.774, p = 0.003). The cut-point for myeloid cell population was found be > = 0.5 × 103ul−1, which corresponds to a detection sensitivity of 73.3% and specificity of 72.7% for tumor recurrence. Conclusion Bone marrow cells of myeloid origin play important roles in mediate acute inflammatory reactions and in regulating adaptive immunity. We showed here that certain primitive cells of myeloid lineage may potentially be used to aid the differentiation of tumor recurrence from radiation-induced changes in patients who had SRS for brain metastasis. The identification of potential circulating biomarkers that can complement traditional imaging to distinguish the two distinct pathological entities has significant implications in the management of these patients. Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Wen Jiang, Yvo Rodriguez, Nicolas S. Boehling, Sujit S. Prabhu, Betty Y.S. Kim, Patrick Hwu, Erik P. Sulman, Paul D. Brown, Jing Li. Circulating myeloid precursor profile as potential marker to differentiate radiation changes from tumor recurrence after brain stereotactic radiosurgery. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 532. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-532

Abstract Early-phase trials targeting the T-cell inhibitory molecule programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) have shown clinical efficacy in cancer. This study was undertaken to determine whether PD-L1 is overexpressed in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and to investigate the loss of PTEN as a mechanism of PD-L1 regulation. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) RNA sequencing data showed significantly greater expression of the PD-L1 gene in TNBC (n = 120) compared with non-TNBC (n = 716; P < 0.001). Breast tumor tissue microarrays were evaluated for PD-L1 expression, which was present in 19% (20 of 105) of TNBC specimens. PD-L1+ tumors had greater CD8+ T-cell infiltrate than PD-L1− tumors (688 cells/mm vs. 263 cells/mm; P < 0.0001). To determine the effect of PTEN loss on PD-L1 expression, stable cell lines were generated using PTEN short hairpin RNA (shRNA). PTEN knockdown led to significantly higher cell-surface PD-L1 expression and PD-L1 transcripts, suggesting transcriptional regulation. Moreover, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway inhibition using the AKT inhibitor MK-2206 or rapamycin resulted in decreased PD-L1 expression, further linking PTEN and PI3K signaling to PD-L1 regulation. Coculture experiments were performed to determine the functional effect of altered PD-L1 expression. Increased PD-L1 cell surface expression by tumor cells induced by PTEN loss led to decreased T-cell proliferation and increased apoptosis. PD-L1 is expressed in 20% of TNBCs, suggesting PD-L1 as a therapeutic target in TNBCs. Because PTEN loss is one mechanism regulating PD-L1 expression, agents targeting the PI3K pathway may increase the antitumor adaptive immune responses. Cancer Immunol Res; 2(4); 361–70. ©2014 AACR.