Autoimmunity associated with immunotherapy of cancer.

In this age of promise of new therapies for cancer, immunotherapy is emerging as an exciting treatment option for patients. Vaccines and cytokines are being tested extensively in clinical trials, and strategies using monoclonal antibodies and cell transfer are mediating dramatic regression of tumors in patients with certain malignancies. However, although initially advocated as being more specific for cancer and having fewer side effects than conventional therapies, it is becoming increasingly clear that many immunotherapies can lead to immune reactions against normal tissues.

Adoptive immunotherapy combined with intratumoral TLR agonist delivery eradicates established melanoma in mice.

Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists can trigger broad inflammatory responses that elicit rapid innate immunity and promote the activities of lymphocytes, which can potentially enhance adoptive immunotherapy in the tumor-bearing setting. In the present study, we found that Polyinosinic:Polycytidylic Acid [Poly(I:C)] and CpG oligodeoxynucleotide 1826 [CpG], agonists for TLR 3 and 9, respectively, potently activated adoptively transferred T cells against a murine model of established melanoma. Intratumoral injection of Poly(I:C) and CpG, combined with systemic transfer of activated pmel-1 T cells, specific for gp100(25-33), led to enhanced survival and eradication of 9-day established subcutaneous B16F10 melanomas in a proportion of mice.

Three agonist antibodies in combination with high-dose IL-2 eradicate orthotopic kidney cancer in mice.

Background: Combination immunotherapies can be effective against subcutaneous tumors in mice but the effect against orthotopic malignant disease is less well characterized. In particular, a combination of three agonist antibodies, termed Tri-mAb, consisting of anti-DR5, anti-CD40 and anti-CD137 has previously been demonstrated to eradicate a large proportion of subcutaneous renal cell carcinoma (Renca) tumors (75% long-term survival), but the effect against orthotopic disease is not known.

Purpose: To determine the relative response of orthotopic tumors, we inoculated Renca into the kidney followed by treatment with Tri-mAb.