Purpose: We evaluated whether indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) inhibitor (IDOi) BMS986205 + PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab enhanced T-cell activity and augmented immune-mediated antitumor responses in untreated, resectable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We employed response-adaptive surgical timing to identify responders to immunotherapy and enhance their response.
Patients And Methods: Patients with HNSCC were 3:1 randomized to receive nivolumab with or without BMS986205 orally daily (NCT03854032).
The lack of comprehensive diagnostics and consensus analytical models for evaluating the status of a patient's immune system has hindered a wider adoption of immunoprofiling for treatment monitoring and response prediction in cancer patients. To address this unmet need, we developed an immunoprofiling platform that uses multiparameter flow cytometry to characterize immune cell heterogeneity in the peripheral blood of healthy donors and patients with advanced cancers. Using unsupervised clustering, we identified five immunotypes with unique distributions of different cell types and gene expression profiles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnnually, seasonal influenza is responsible for millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths. The current method for managing influenza is vaccination using a standardized amount of the influenza virus' primary surface antigen, hemagglutinin (HA), as the intended target of the immune response. This vaccination strategy results in vaccines with variable efficacy year to year due to antigenic drift of HA, which can be further exacerbated by manufacturing processes optimizing growth of vaccine virus in eggs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTherapy using anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has revolutionized the treatment of many cancers including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC), but only a fraction of patients respond. To better understand the molecular mechanisms driving resistance, we performed extensive analysis of plasma and tumor tissues before and after a 4-week neoadjuvant trial in which HNSCC patients were treated with the anti-PD-1 inhibitor, nivolumab. Luminex cytokine analysis of patient plasma demonstrated that HPV nonresponders displayed high levels of the proinflammatory chemokine, interleukin-8 (IL-8), which decreased after ICI treatment, but remained higher than responders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified in December of 2019 and is responsible for millions of infections and deaths across the globe. Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 has proven effective to contain the spread of the virus and reduce disease. The production and distribution of these vaccines occurred at a remarkable pace, largely through the employment of the novel mRNA platform.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe gastrointestinal tract represents one of the largest body surfaces that is exposed to the outside world. It is the only mucosal surface that is required to simultaneously recognize and defend against pathogens, while allowing nutrients containing foreign antigens to be tolerated and absorbed. It differentiates between these foreign substances through a complex system of pattern recognition receptors expressed on the surface of the intestinal epithelial cells as well as the underlying immune cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBurkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative, facultative intracellular bacillus that causes the disease melioidosis. B. pseudomallei expresses a number of proteins that contribute to its intracellular survival in the mammalian host.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiscovery and development of novel adjuvants that can improve existing or next generation vaccine platforms have received considerable interest in recent years. In particular, adjuvants that can elicit both humoral and cellular immune responses would be particularly advantageous because the majority of licensed vaccines are formulated with aluminum hydroxide (alum) which predominantly promotes antibodies. We previously demonstrated that bacterial-derived outer membrane vesicles (OMV) possess inherent adjuvanticity and drive antigen-specific antibody and cellular immune responses to OMV components.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFcauses chronic gastric infection that can lead to peptic ulcers and is an identified risk factor for gastric cancer development. Although much effort has been put into the development of a vaccine over the last three decades, none has yet reached clinical application. Specific challenges pertaining to effective vaccine development include the lack of proven vaccine-effective antigens and safe mucosal adjuvants to enhance local immune responses as well as the lack of accepted correlates of protection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCholera is a severe diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) that results in 3-4 million cases globally with 100,000-150,000 deaths reported annually. Mostly confined to developing nations, current strategies to control the spread of cholera include the provision of safe drinking water and improved sanitation and hygiene, ideally in conjunction with oral vaccination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a Gram-negative, non-motile, facultative intracellular bacillus and the causative agent of glanders, a highly contagious zoonotic disease. is naturally resistant to multiple antibiotics and there is concern for its potential use as a bioweapon, making the development of a vaccine against of critical importance. We have previously demonstrated that immunization with multivalent outer membrane vesicles (OMV) derived from provide significant protection against pneumonic melioidosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiarrhoeal infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and cholera imposing a significant global burden. There is currently no licensed vaccine for ETEC. Development of new nonliving oral vaccines has proven difficult due to the physicochemical and immunological challenges associated with the oral route.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Drug Deliv Rev
August 2015
While the majority of human pathogens infect the body through mucosal sites, most licensed vaccines are injectable. In fact the only mucosal vaccine that has been widely used globally for infant and childhood vaccination programs is the oral polio vaccine (OPV) developed by Albert Sabin in the 1950s. While oral vaccines against Cholera, rotavirus and Salmonella typhi have also been licensed, the development of additional non-living oral vaccines against these and other enteric pathogens has been slow and challenging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnteric infections are a major cause of mortality and morbidity with significant social and economic implications worldwide and particularly in developing countries. An attractive approach to minimizing the impact of these diseases is via the development of oral vaccination strategies. However, oral vaccination is challenging due to the tolerogenic and hyporesponsive nature of antigen presenting cells resident in the gastrointestinal tract.
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