R01CA251514

Immunotherapy Modeling in Organoids Co-Preserving Tumor and Infiltrating Immune Compartments - Project Summary

The immune system remarkably distinguishes between self and non-self/self-aberrant antigens, affording exquisite anti-tumor specificity and inhibition of tumorigenesis. However, tumor immunosurveillance is unfortunately opposed by tumor cell evasion of the immune response. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) targeting PD-1, PD-L1, CD40, and others, as well as adoptive cell transfer (CAR-T, bulk TILs), favorably modulate this equilibrium for therapeutic benefit. However, response rates are often incomplete, progressive disease is common, and predictive biomarkers are suboptimal.

The development of next-generation immunotherapies has been hindered by a lack of in vitro models that functionally recapitulate syngeneic interactions between tumor and infiltrating immune cells. In response, we have developed organoid methods that culture primary human tumor biopsies together with their infiltrating immune components as a cohesive unit without reconstitution. These "patient-derived tumor organoids" (PDO) preserve tumor cells alongside endogenous T, B, NK cells, and macrophages, robustly recapitulate the T cell receptor clonotype repertoire of the original tumor, and crucially, manifest tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) expansion, activation, and tumor cell killing in response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapeutic antibodies (Cell, 2018). The PDO system thus represents a holistic organoid model of human tumor-immune interactions.

Here, we leverage the PDO technique to investigate immunotherapeutic mechanisms and treatments in PD-1-responsive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) and melanoma, exploiting pre- and post-treatment human biopsies and mouse models.

Aim 1 hypothesizes that checkpoint inhibition induces a complex and sequential network response involving immune-tumor and immune-immune crosstalk. Thus, Aim 1 employs the ability to perform serial time-course sampling of PDOs to define a single-cell RNA-seq network cellular crosstalk model of the early anti-PD-1-stimulated anti-tumor immune response over multiple acute time points typically inaccessible to clinical biopsies performed after months. Importantly, comparison of this immune propagation in responding versus non-responding mouse and human organoids will define nodal points conferring resistance.

Aim 2 improves bulk TIL adoptive transfer immunotherapy by using PDOs as living bioreactors to enrich tumor-reactive mouse and human melanoma TILs by anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibition, followed by testing of enhanced anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo.

Lastly, Aim 3 performs a co-treatment trial comparing anti-PD-1 responses of pre-treatment biopsy CSCC PDOs to clinical outcomes. Further, post-treatment biopsy PDOs are re-challenged with anti-PD-1 and a novel agent inactivating PD-1 by dephosphorylation. We thus utilize the holistic PDO model preserving endogenous tumor epithelial and immune components en bloc to investigate and improve cancer immunotherapy via our team of Calvin Kuo (organoids), Mark Davis and Chris Garcia (tumor immunology), and Anne Chang and Dimitri Colevas (CSCC clinicians).

The Leland Stanford Junior University

TO DEVELOP THE MEANS TO CURE AS MANY CANCER PATIENTS AS POSSIBLE AND TO CONTROL THE DISEASE IN THOSE PATIENTS WHO ARE NOT CURED. CANCER TREATMENT RESEARCH INCLUDES THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF IMPROVED METHODS OF CANCER TREATMENT THROUGH THE SUPPORT AND PERFORMANCE OF BOTH FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED LABORATORY AND CLINICAL RESEARCH. RESEARCH IS SUPPORTED IN THE DISCOVERY, DEVELOPMENT, AND CLINICAL TESTING OF ALL MODES OF THERAPY INCLUDING: SURGERY, RADIOTHERAPY, CHEMOTHERAPY, AND BIOLOGICAL THERAPY INCLUDING MOLECULARLY TARGETED THERAPIES, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND IN COMBINATION. IN ADDITION, RESEARCH IS CARRIED OUT IN AREAS OF NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT, STEM CELL AND BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION, IMAGE GUIDED THERAPIES AND STUDIES TO REDUCE TOXICITY OF CYTOTOXIC THERAPIES, AND OTHER METHODS OF SUPPORTIVE CARE THAT MAY SUPPLEMENT AND ENHANCE PRIMARY TREATMENT. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.395 - Cancer Treatment Research

National Cancer Institute (NCI) [HHS - NIH]

Stanford, California 94305 United States

Single Zip Code

NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PA-20-185)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 390% from $657,944 to $3,224,380.