Imaging Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Brain Tumors with [Cu]Cu-NOTA-anti-CD8 PET.

Purpose: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. Various immunotherapeutic approaches to improve patient survival are being developed, but the molecular mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance are currently unknown. Here, we explored the ability of a humanized radiolabeled CD8-targeted minibody to noninvasively quantify tumor-infiltrating CD8-positive (CD8) T cells using PET.

Experimental Design: We generated a peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) humanized immune system (HIS) mouse model and quantified the absolute number of CD8 T cells by flow cytometry relative to the [Cu]Cu-NOTA-anti-CD8 PET signal. To evaluate a patient-derived orthotopic GBM HIS model, we intracranially injected cells into NOG mice, humanized cohorts with multiple HLA-matched PBMC donors, and quantified CD8 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes by IHC. To determine whether [Cu]Cu-NOTA-anti-CD8 images brain parenchymal T-cell infiltrate in GBM tumors, we performed PET and autoradiography and subsequently stained serial sections of brain tumor tissue by IHC for CD8 T cells.

Results: Nontumor-bearing NOG mice injected with human PBMCs showed prominent [Cu]Cu-NOTA-anti-CD8 uptake in the spleen and minimal radiotracer localization to the normal brain. NOG mice harboring intracranial human GBMs yielded high-resolution PET images of tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells. Radiotracer retention correlated with CD8 T-cell numbers in spleen and tumor tissue. Our study demonstrates the ability of [Cu]Cu-NOTA-anti-CD8 PET to quantify peripheral and tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells in brain tumors.

Conclusions: Human CD8 T cells infiltrate an orthotopic GBM in a donor-dependent manner. Furthermore, [Cu]Cu-NOTA-anti-CD8 quantitatively images both peripheral and brain parenchymal human CD8 T cells.