Durable complete response after combined treatment with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and oncolytic adenovirus (TILT-123) in a patient with metastatic mucosal melanoma.

Background: Despite significant advancements in the treatment of malignant melanoma, metastatic mucosal melanoma remains a therapeutic challenge due to its complex pathogenesis, distinct pathological characteristics, and limited response to immunotherapy. Combining different immunotherapeutic approaches offers a potential strategy to address these challenges. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy and oncolytic virus therapy represent promising treatment modalities that may synergize with each other.

AXL in myeloid malignancies - an elusive target?

The TAM receptor tyrosine kinase family member AXL plays critical roles in tissue homeostasis, survival, chemoresistance, and motility. This study investigates the receptor expression in six AML cell lines and bone marrow myeloblasts from 25 patients with myeloid neoplasms. We found that AXL expression was generally absent or very low in AML myeloblasts.

The antitumor activity of TGFβ-specific T cells is dependent on IL-6 signaling.

Although interleukin (IL)-6 is considered immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting, emerging evidence suggests that it may support antitumor immunity. While combining immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and radiotherapy in patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) has yielded promising clinical results, the addition of an anti-IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) antibody has failed to elicit clinical benefits. Notably, a robust TGFβ-specific immune response at baseline in PC patients treated solely with ICIs and radiotherapy correlated with improved survival.

Analyzing functional heterogeneity of effector cells for enhanced adoptive cell therapy applications.

Cellular effector function assays traditionally rely on bulk cell populations that mask complex heterogeneity and rare subpopulations. The Xdrop® droplet technology facilitates high-throughput compartmentalization of viable single cells or single-cell pairs in double-emulsion droplets, enabling the study of single cells or cell-cell interactions at an individual level. Effector cell molecule secretion and target cell killing can be evaluated independently or in combination.

Single intravenous administration of oncolytic adenovirus TILT-123 results in systemic tumor transduction and immune response in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Background: A limitation of approved oncolytic viruses is their requirement for intratumoral (i.t.) injection.

Molecular Landscape of Bladder Cancer: Key Genes, Transcription Factors, and Drug Interactions.

Bladder cancer is among the most prevalent tumors in the urinary system and is known for its high malignancy. Although traditional diagnostic and treatment methods are established, recent research has focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying bladder cancer. The primary objective of this study is to identify novel diagnostic markers and discover more effective targeted therapies for bladder cancer.

Corrigendum: modulation of intact tumor fragments with anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 influences the expansion and specificity of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.

Efficacy of TIL therapy in advanced cutaneous melanoma in the current immuno-oncology era: updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Adoptive cell therapy with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL-ACT) has consistently shown efficacy in advanced melanoma. New results in the field provide now the opportunity to assess overall survival (OS) after TIL-ACT and to examine the effect of prior anti-programmed cell death protein 1/programmed death-ligand 1 [anti-PD-(L)1] therapy on its efficacy.

Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed up to 29 February 2024.

Dose escalation study of a personalized peptide-based neoantigen vaccine (EVX-01) in patients with metastatic melanoma.

Background: Neoantigens can serve as targets for T cell-mediated antitumor immunity via personalized neopeptide vaccines. Interim data from our clinical study NCT03715985 showed that the personalized peptide-based neoantigen vaccine EVX-01, formulated in the liposomal adjuvant, CAF09b, was safe and able to elicit EVX-01-specific T cell responses in patients with metastatic melanoma. Here, we present results from the dose-escalation part of the study, evaluating the feasibility, safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of EVX-01 in addition to anti-PD-1 therapy.

Biomarkers for response to TIL therapy: a comprehensive review.

Adoptive cell therapy with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) has demonstrated durable clinical responses in patients with metastatic melanoma, substantiated by recent positive results of the first phase III trial on TIL therapy. Being a demanding and logistically complex treatment, extensive preclinical and clinical effort is required to optimize patient selection by identifying predictive biomarkers of response. This review aims to comprehensively summarize the current evidence regarding the potential impact of tumor-related factors (such as mutational burden, neoantigen load, immune infiltration, status of oncogenic driver genes, and epigenetic modifications), patient characteristics (including disease burden and location, baseline cytokines and lactate dehydrogenase serum levels, human leucocyte antigen haplotype, or prior exposure to immune checkpoint inhibitors and other anticancer therapies), phenotypic features of the transferred T cells (mainly the total cell count, CD8:CD4 ratio, ex vivo culture time, expression of exhaustion markers, costimulatory signals, antitumor reactivity, and scope of target tumor-associated antigens), and other treatment-related factors (such as lymphodepleting chemotherapy and postinfusion administration of interleukin-2).

Prospective Assessment of Fluorine-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (FDG-PET/CT) for Early Identification of Checkpoint-Inhibitor-Induced Pseudoprogression.

The activity of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with metastatic melanoma is often monitored using fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) scans. However, distinguishing disease progression (PD) from pseudoprogression (PsPD), where increased FDG uptake might reflect immune cell activity rather than tumor growth, remains a challenge. This prospective study compared the efficacy of dual-time point (DTP) FDG-PET/CT with modified response criteria (PERCIMT) in differentiating PsPD from PD.

TGFβ-specific T cells induced by a TGFβ-derived immune modulatory vaccine both directly and indirectly modulate the phenotype of tumor-associated macrophages and fibroblasts.

The tumor microenvironment (TME) of pancreatic cancer is highly immunosuppressive. We recently developed a transforming growth factor (TGF)β-based immune modulatory vaccine that controlled tumor growth in a murine model of pancreatic cancer by targeting immunosuppression and desmoplasia in the TME. We found that treatment with the TGFβ vaccine not only reduced the percentage of M2-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in the tumor but polarized CAFs away from the myofibroblast-like phenotype.

Dissecting tumor microenvironment heterogeneity in syngeneic mouse models: insights on cancer-associated fibroblast phenotypes shaped by infiltrating T cells.

Murine syngeneic tumor models have been used extensively for cancer research for several decades and have been instrumental in driving the discovery and development of cancer immunotherapies. These tumor models are very simplistic cancer models, but recent reports have, however, indicated that the different inoculated cancer cell lines can lead to the formation of unique tumor microenvironments (TMEs). To gain more knowledge from studies based on syngeneic tumor models, it is essential to obtain an in-depth understanding of the cellular and molecular composition of the TME in the different models.

Spatial transcriptomics data and analytical methods: An updated perspective.

Spatial transcriptomics (ST) is a newly emerging field that integrates high-resolution imaging and transcriptomic data to enable the high-throughput analysis of the spatial localization of transcripts in diverse biological systems. The rapid progress in this field necessitates the development of innovative computational methods to effectively tackle the distinct challenges posed by the analysis of ST data. These platforms, integrating AI techniques, offer a promising avenue for understanding disease mechanisms and expediting drug discovery.

From cancer big data to treatment: Artificial intelligence in cancer research.

In recent years, developing the idea of "cancer big data" has emerged as a result of the significant expansion of various fields such as clinical research, genomics, proteomics and public health records. Advances in omics technologies are making a significant contribution to cancer big data in biomedicine and disease diagnosis. The increasingly availability of extensive cancer big data has set the stage for the development of multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks.

Supervised clustering of peripheral immune cells associated with clinical response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy in patients with advanced melanoma.

Background And Purpose: Immune therapy with checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) is a highly successful therapy in many cancers including metastatic melanoma. Still, many patients do not respond well to therapy and there are no blood-borne biomarkers available to assess the clinical outcome.

Materials And Methods: To investigate cellular changes after CPI therapy, we carried out flow cytometry-based immune monitoring in a cohort of 90 metastatic melanoma patients before and after CPI therapy using the FlowSOM algorithm.

Intratumoral T-cell and B-cell receptor architecture associates with distinct immune tumor microenvironment features and clinical outcomes of anti-PD-1/L1 immunotherapy.

Background: Effective cooperation between B-cells and T-cells within the tumor microenvironment may lead to the regression of established tumors. B-cells and T-cells can recognize tumor antigens with exquisite specificity via their receptor complexes. Nevertheless, whether a diverse intratumoral B-cells and T-cell receptor (BCR, TCR) repertoire affects the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and clinical outcomes in patients treated with immunotherapy is unclear.

Loss of cancer cell-derived ADAM15 alters the tumor microenvironment in colorectal tumors.

Tumor progression and response to treatment are highly affected by interactions between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME). Many of the soluble factors and signaling receptors involved in this crosstalk are shed by a disintegrin and metalloproteinases (ADAMs). Upregulation of ADAM15 has been linked to worse survival in cancer patients and a tumor-promoting function both in vitro and in murine cancer models.

TCR-engaging scaffolds selectively expand antigen-specific T-cells with a favorable phenotype for adoptive cell therapy.

Background: Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) has shown promising results for the treatment of cancer and viral infections. Successful ACT relies on ex vivo expansion of large numbers of desired T-cells with strong cytotoxic capacity and in vivo persistence, which constitutes the greatest challenge to current ACT strategies. Here, in this study, we present a novel technology for ex vivo expansion of antigen-specific T-cells; artificial antigen-presenting scaffolds (Ag-scaffolds) consisting of a dextran-polysaccharide backbone, decorated with combinations of peptide-Major Histocompatibility Complex (pMHC), cytokines and co-stimulatory molecules, enabling coordinated stimulation of antigen-specific T-cells.