Myeloablative temozolomide enhances CD8⁺ T-cell responses to vaccine and is required for efficacy against brain tumors in mice.

Abstract

Temozolomide (TMZ) is an alkylating agent shown to prolong survival in patients with high grade glioma and is routinely used to treat melanoma brain metastases. A prominent side effect of TMZ is induction of profound lymphopenia, which some suggest may be incompatible with immunotherapy. Conversely, it has been proposed that recovery from chemotherapy-induced lymphopenia may actually be exploited to potentiate T-cell responses. Here, we report the first demonstration of TMZ as an immune host-conditioning regimen in an experimental model of brain tumor and examine its impact on antitumor efficacy of a well-characterized peptide vaccine. Our results show that high-dose, myeloablative (MA) TMZ resulted in markedly reduced CD4(+), CD8(+) T-cell and CD4(+)Foxp3(+) TReg counts. Adoptive transfer of naïve CD8(+) T cells and vaccination in this setting led to an approximately 70-fold expansion of antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells over controls. Ex vivo analysis of effector functions revealed significantly enhanced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion from mice receiving MA TMZ when compared to those treated with a lower lymphodepletive, non-myeloablative (NMA) dose. Importantly, MA TMZ, but not NMA TMZ was uniquely associated with an elevation of endogenous IL-2 serum levels, which we also show was required for optimal T-cell expansion. Accordingly, in a murine model of established intracerebral tumor, vaccination-induced immunity in the setting of MA TMZ-but not lymphodepletive, NMA TMZ-led to significantly prolonged survival. Overall, these results may be used to leverage the side-effects of a clinically-approved chemotherapy and should be considered in future study design of immune-based treatments for brain tumors.

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1371/journal.pone.0059082

Publication Info

Sanchez-Perez, Luis A, Bryan D Choi, Gary E Archer, Xiuyu Cui, Catherine Flores, Laura A Johnson, Robert J Schmittling, David Snyder, et al. (2013). Myeloablative temozolomide enhances CD8⁺ T-cell responses to vaccine and is required for efficacy against brain tumors in mice. PLoS One, 8(3). p. e59082. 10.1371/journal.pone.0059082 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16107.

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Scholars@Duke

Archer

Gerald Edward Archer

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

My current research focus involves the delivery of therapeutic agents for the treatment of central nervous system neoplasia. Utilizing athymic rat models of central nervous system neoplasia I am investigating compartmental approaches to increase therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents and immunoconjugates. Preclinical testing in athymic rats of intrathecal administration of melphalan and 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide have resulted in the FDA granting investigational new drug protocols for the treatment of neoplastic meningitis using these two agents. I am also currently involved with the selective intraarterial administration of alkylator resistance modulators to treat intraparechymal brain tumors which are resistant to conventional alkylator therapy. I am also working in collaboration with Dr. Darell Bigner on the characterization of MAbs that react with the epidermal growth factor receptor variant III mutant, a tumor specific antigen.

Herndon

James Emmett Herndon

Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics

Current research interests have application to the design and analysis of cancer clinical trials. Specifically, interests include the use of time-dependent covariables within survival models, the design of phase II cancer clinical trials which minimize some of the logistical problems associated with their conduct, and the analysis of longitudinal studies with informative censoring (in particular, quality of life studies of patients with advanced cancer).


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