Oops, you're using an old version of your browser so some of the features on this page may not be displaying properly.

MINIMAL Requirements: Google Chrome 24+Mozilla Firefox 20+Internet Explorer 11Opera 15–18Apple Safari 7SeaMonkey 2.15-2.23

Poster display session: Biomarkers, Gynaecological cancers, Haematological malignancies, Immunotherapy of cancer, New diagnostic tools, NSCLC - early stage, locally advanced & metastatic, SCLC, Thoracic malignancies, Translational research

4563 - DNA damaging agents and immunotherapy in NSCLC: Is there a STING in the tale?

Date

20 Oct 2018

Session

Poster display session: Biomarkers, Gynaecological cancers, Haematological malignancies, Immunotherapy of cancer, New diagnostic tools, NSCLC - early stage, locally advanced & metastatic, SCLC, Thoracic malignancies, Translational research

Topics

Immunotherapy

Tumour Site

Presenters

Carminia Maria Della Corte

Citation

Annals of Oncology (2018) 29 (suppl_8): viii14-viii57. 10.1093/annonc/mdy269

Authors

C.M. Della Corte1, K. Ramkumar1, T. Sen1, P. Tong2, D.L. Gibbons1, J.V. Heymach1, J. Wang2, Y. Fan1, R. Cardnell1, L. Byers1

Author affiliations

  • 1 Thoracic Head And Neck, MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER, 77030 - HOUSTON/US
  • 2 Department Of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER, 77030 - HOUSTON/US

Resources

Login to access the resources on OncologyPRO.

If you do not have an ESMO account, please create one for free.

Abstract 4563

Background

In NSCLC patients, several clinical trials are testing the efficacy of DNA damage response inhibitors (DDRi) and chemotherapy in combination with anti-PDL1 drugs. DDRi activate antitumor immune responses in cancer through release of cytosolic DNA leading to STING activation, stimulation of neo-antigens and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Our group has previously demonstrated a strong correlation between EMT and immune activation, showing that tumors with high EMT score have the highest levels of targetable immune markers.

Methods

We analyzed mRNA and protein expression of immune and EMT genes in the lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous carcinoma (LUSC) TCGA NSCLC and in a panel of NSCLC cells, correlating them with the presence of somatic mutations in DDR genes. Contemporary, we treated NSCLC cell lines in vitro with cisplatin and various DDRi combinations, including PARP/ATR/ATM/WEE-inhibitors, to determine the effect on DNA damage and immune markers expression (by western blot and RPPA analysis).

Results

In both TCGA cohorts, immune markers mRNA expression clustered together and were positively correlated with EMT genes. In the LUAD cohort, high expression of CD274 (PDL1) was associated with high levels of other immune suppressive markers (LAG3, IDO1, PDCD1LG2, HAVCR2, CTLA4, ICOS, CD4, and CD40) and chemokines (CXCL10, CCL5, CCL2). Notably, expression of STING pathway mediators (TBK1 and TMEM173) and mesenchymal markers (TWIST1/2, SNAI1, SMO, and TGFB1) were positively related with CD274. Moreover, we found that mutations in DDR related genes TP53, RB1, POLE, FANCM and BRCA1 were allied with higher levels of targetable immune suppressive markers (LAG3, IDO1, and CD274) and the mesenchymal marker, TWIST1, but lower levels of TMEM173. Finally, in vitro treatments with DDRi and cisplatin increased DNA damage, as demonstrated by increased p-H2AX, and proportionally upregulated PDL1 and STING in some cell lines.

Conclusions

Our findings provide rationale to combine DNA damaging agents with immunotherapy drugs targeting immune suppressive markers in NSCLC. From our data, expression of EMT genes and deleterious mutations in DDR genes represent the best candidates to select patients that can benefit from these combinations.

Clinical trial identification

Legal entity responsible for the study

MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Funding

AstraZeneca.

Editorial Acknowledgement

NA

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential, while others help us improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.

For more detailed information on the cookies we use, please check our Privacy Policy.

Customise settings
  • Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and you can only disable them by changing your browser preferences.