The Ovarian Cancer Chemokine Landscape Is Conducive to Homing of Vaccine-Primed and CD3/CD28-Costimulated T Cells Prepared for Adoptive Therapy.

PURPOSE: Chemokines are implicated in T-cell trafficking. We mapped the chemokine landscape in advanced stage ovarian cancer and characterized the expression of cognate receptors in autologous dendritic cell (DC)-vaccine primed T cells in the context of cell-based immunotherapy. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: The expression of all known human chemokines in patients with primary ovarian cancer was analyzed on two independent microarray datasets and validated on tissue microarray. Peripheral blood T cells from five HLA-A2 patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, who previously received autologous tumor DC vaccine, underwent CD3/CD28 costimulation and expansion ex vivo. Tumor-specific T cells were identified by HER2/neu pentamer staining and were evaluated for the expression and functionality of chemokine receptors important for homing to ovarian cancer. RESULTS: The chemokine landscape of ovarian cancer is heterogeneous with high expression of known lymphocyte-recruiting chemokines (CCL2, CCL4, and CCL5) in tumors with intraepithelial T cells, whereas CXCL10, CXCL12, and CXCL16 are expressed quasi-universally, including in tumors lacking tumor-infiltrating T cells. DC-vaccine primed T cells were found to express the cognate receptors for the above chemokines. Ex vivo CD3/CD28 costimulation and expansion of vaccine-primed Tcells upregulated CXCR3 and CXCR4, and enhanced their migration toward universally expressed chemokines in ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS: DC-primed tumor-specific T cells are armed with the appropriate receptors to migrate toward universal ovarian cancer chemokines, and these receptors are further upregulated by ex vivo CD3/CD28 costimulation, which render T cells more fit for migrating toward these chemokines. Clin Cancer Res; 21(12); 2840-50. ©2015 AACR.

Day-4 myeloid dendritic cells pulsed with whole tumor lysate are highly immunogenic and elicit potent anti-tumor responses.

"Day-7" myeloid DCs are commonly used in the clinic. However, there is a strong need to develop DCs faster that have the same potent immunostimulatory capacity as "Day-7" myeloid DCs and at the same time minimizing time, labor and cost of DC preparations. Although "2 days" DCs can elicit peptide-specific responses, they have not been demonstrated to engulf, process and present complex whole tumor lysates, which could be more convenient and personalized source of tumor antigens than defined peptides. In this preclinical study, we evaluated the T-cell stimulatory capacity of Day-2, Day-4, and Day-7 cultured monocyte-derived DCs loaded with SKOV3 cell whole lysate prepared by freeze-thaw or by UVB-irradiation followed by freeze-thaw, and matured with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon (IFN)-gamma. DCs were evaluated for antigen uptake, and following maturation with LPS and IFN-gamma, DCs were assessed for expression of CD80, CD40, CD86, ICAM-1 and CCR7, production of IL-12p70 and IP-10, and induction of tumor-specific T-cell responses. Day-4 and Day-7 DCs exhibited similar phagocytic abilities, which were superior to Day-2 DCs. Mature Day-7 DCs expressed the highest CD40 and ICAM-1, but mature Day-4 DCs produced the most IL-12p70 and IP-10. Importantly, Day-4 and Day-7 DCs derived from ovarian cancer patients stimulated equally strongly tumor-specific T-cell responses. This is the first study demonstrating the highly immunogenic and strong T-cell stimulatory properties of Day-4 myeloid DCs, and provided important preclinical data for rapid development of potent whole tumor lysate-loaded DC vaccines that are applicable to many tumor types.

The synthesis and SAR of 2-amino-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidines: a new class of Aurora-A kinase inhibitors.

A new class of Aurora-A inhibitors have been identified based on the 2-amino-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine scaffold. Here, we describe the synthesis and SAR of this novel series. We report compounds which exhibit nanomolar activity in the Aurora-A biochemical assay and are able to inhibit tumor cell proliferation. This study culminates in compound 30, an inhibitor with potent activity against Aurora A (IC50=0.008 microM), anti-proliferative activity against several tumor cell lines and induces polyploidy in H460 cells.

Dihydroquinone ansamycins: toward resolving the conflict between low in vitro affinity and high cellular potency of geldanamycin derivatives.

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is critical for the maturation of numerous client proteins, many of which are involved in cellular transformation and oncogenesis. The ansamycins, geldanamycin (GA) and its derivative, 17-allylaminogeldanamycin (17-AAG), inhibit Hsp90. As such, the prototypical Hsp90 inhibitor, 17-AAG, has advanced into clinical oncology trials. GA and 17-AAG potently inhibit tumor cell proliferation and survival but have been reported to bind weakly to Hsp90 in vitro. Recent studies have suggested that the in vitro potency of ansamycins against Hsp90 may be enhanced in the presence of cochaperones. Here, we present evidence of an alternative explanation. Ansamycins reduced to their dihydroquinones in the presence of common reducing agents in vitro have approximately 40-fold greater affinity than the corresponding oxidized quinones. The dihydroquinone of 17-AAG is not generated in an aqueous environment in the absence of reducing agents but is produced in both tumor and normal quiescent epithelial cells. The reduced form of 17-AAG is differentiated from its oxidized form not only by the higher affinity for Hsp90 but also by a protracted K(off) rate. Therefore, the in vivo accumulation of the high-affinity dihydroquinone ansamycins in tumor cells contributes to the antitumor activity of these compounds and alters our understanding of the active species driving the efficacy of this class of compounds.

Small molecule inhibitors of methionine aminopeptidase type 2 (MetAP-2).

The protein processing enzyme, methionine aminopeptidase-2 (MetAP-2), has been identified as a molecular target of fumagillin and its derivative, TNP-470, compounds known to inhibit endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis. A high-throughput screening program was undertaken to identify selective, reversible inhibitors of MetAP-2 in an attempt to discover structurally novel anti-angiogenic agents for potential therapeutic use in oncology. Approximately 90 small-molecule, reversible, selective inhibitors of rhMetAP-2 were identified. The most potent of these compounds contained a singly-substituted triazole moiety which exhibited an IC50 of 8 nM (95% confidence limits 5 to 13 nM) and was highly selective for MetAP-2 over MetAP-1 (approximately 60-fold difference in IC50 values). Unlike fumagillin, these MetAP-2 inhibitors failed to significantly inhibit growth factor-stimulated endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation or to suppress angiogenesis in the in vitro aortic ring explant model of microvessel outgrowth. The MetAP-2-inhibitory activity of these compounds was dependent on the divalent cation used as the metalloenzyme activating cofactor for MetAP-2. These inhibitors were identified using cobalt(II)-activated recombinant human MetAP-2 for screening compound libraries. When manganese (Mn2+) was substituted for cobalt following EDTA treatment and extensive dialysis of the MetAP-2 protein, these inhibitors were significantly less potent (40-fold increase in IC50) as inhibitors of MetAP-2. These results support the recent hypothesis that cobalt may not be the relevant divalent metal ion cofactor for MetAP-2 in cells and may explain the observed absence of cell-based activity using potent triazole inhibitors of cobalt-activated MetAP-2.