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Priming the pancreatic cancer tumor microenvironment for checkpoint-inhibitor immunotherapy

Eric R Lutz1, Heather Kinkead2, Elizabeth M Jaffee3

  • 1Department of Oncology; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ; Baltimore, MD USA ; The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore, MD USA ; The Skip Viragh Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and Clinical Care; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore, MD USA ; The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Center; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore, MD USA.

Oncoimmunology
|May 6, 2015
PubMed

Insights

An experimental vaccine may prime pancreatic tumors for immunotherapy. This approach could offer a new strategy for treating poorly immunogenic cancers, like pancreatic cancer, with checkpoint inhibitors.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Immunology
  • Cancer Research

Background:

  • Single-agent immunotherapy is effective against many cancers but not poorly immunogenic ones, such as pancreatic cancer.
  • Pancreatic tumors are known for their poor immunogenicity, limiting the efficacy of current immunotherapies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate if an experimental vaccine can enhance the tumor microenvironment (TME) for subsequent immunotherapy.
  • To establish a novel platform for assessing checkpoint inhibitors in challenging, poorly immunogenic cancer types.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of pancreatic tumors treated with an experimental vaccine (Lutz et al., Cancer Immunology Research 2014).
  • Assessment of changes within the tumor microenvironment post-vaccination.

Main Results:

  • Vaccination was observed to prime the tumor microenvironment.
  • The primed TME showed increased potential for responding to checkpoint-inhibitor immunotherapy.

Conclusions:

  • Experimental vaccination can prepare the TME for immunotherapy in poorly immunogenic cancers.
  • This vaccination strategy supports a new platform for evaluating checkpoint inhibitors in pancreatic cancer and similar malignancies.
Keywords:
pancreatic cancertumor immunotherapytumor vaccines

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