Combined immunotherapy with anti-PDL-1/PD-1 and anti-CD4 antibodies cures syngeneic disseminated neuroblastoma

Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 25;7(1):14049. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14417-6.

Abstract

Anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 blocking monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have shown potent anti-tumor effects in adult cancer patients and clinical studies have recently been started in pediatric cancers, including high-risk/relapsing neuroblastoma (NB). Therefore, we studied the effects of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 mAbs in two syngeneic models of disseminated NB generated by the injection of either Neuro2a or NXS2 cells, which express PD-L1. In addition, we tested the combination of these agents with the immune-enhancing cytokine IL-21, the Ecto-NTPDase inhibitor POM-1, an anti-CD25 mAb targeting Treg cells, or an anti-CD4 mAb. We previously showed that CD4-transient depletion removes CD4+CD25+ Treg cells and other CD4+CD25- regulatory subsets. Here we show that mono-therapy with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 mAbs had no effect on systemic NB progression in vivo, and also their combination with IL-21, POM-1 or anti-CD25 mAb was ineffective. The combined use of anti-PD-1 with an anti-CD4 mAb mediated a very potent, CD8-dependent, synergistic effect leading to significant elongation of tumor-free survival of mice, complete tumor regression and durable anti-NB immunity. Similar results were obtained by combining the anti-PD-L1 and anti-CD4 mAbs. These findings indicate that both PD-1/PD-L1 and CD4+ T cell-related immune-regulatory mechanisms must be simultaneously blocked to mediate therapeutic effects in these models.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / therapeutic use*
  • Apoptosis
  • B7-H1 Antigen / immunology*
  • CD4 Antigens / immunology*
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / immunology*
  • Female
  • Immunologic Factors
  • Immunotherapy*
  • Interleukins / immunology
  • Lymphocyte Depletion
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred A
  • Neuroblastoma / immunology
  • Neuroblastoma / metabolism
  • Neuroblastoma / pathology
  • Neuroblastoma / therapy*
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor / immunology*
  • T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / drug effects
  • T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / pathology
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • B7-H1 Antigen
  • CD4 Antigens
  • Cd274 protein, mouse
  • Immunologic Factors
  • Interleukins
  • Pdcd1 protein, mouse
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor
  • interleukin-21