Abstract 662: The differential association of PD-1, PD-L1, and CD8+ cells with response to pembrolizumab and presence of Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC)
Authors: Giraldo Nicolas A. , Kaunitz Genevieve J. , Cottrell Tricia R. , Berry Sneha , Sunshine Joel C. , Nguyen Peter , Xu Haiying , Orgutsova Aleksandra , Church Candice D. , Miller Natalie J. , Yearley Jennifer H. , Lipson Evan J. , Danilova Ludmila , Nghiem Paul T. , Topalian Suzanne L. , Taube Janis M. 
Published: July 2017

We recently reported a 56% objective response rate in patients with advanced MCC receiving pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1) as first-line therapy. However, a tumor biomarker predicting clinical response was not defined. The purpose of this study was to determine potential associations of anti-PD-1 response (RECIST 1.1, analysis 8/1/16) and the presence of MCPyV, with the density and distribution of CD8+, PD-1+ and PD-L1+ cell populations in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Pretreatment FFPE tumor specimens were stained for CD8 (n=23) and PD-L1 (n=16, 22C3 assay) with immunohistochemistry (IHC). Immunofluorescence (IF) was used to detect PD-1 (n=16). Intratumoral (IT), peritumoral (PT, 100 um zone) and total (PT+IT) densities of PD-1+ and CD8+ immune cells (IC) were determined with digital image analysis. PD-L1+ cases had &gt;1% tumor cells (TC) expressing PD-L1. Tumors from patients who responded to anti-PD-1 showed higher densities of PD-1+ cells in the IT, PT, and IT+PT regions when compared to non-responders (Mann-Whitney test, p-value=0.03, 0.06, 0.03, respectively). There was no significant association of response with CD8+ IC densities (IT, PT or total) or TC PD-L1 expression. Similarly, when we quantified the number of PD-1+ IC located within 15 um from a PD-L1+ cell (TC or IC), an association was observed between PD-1 and PD-L1 proximity and clinical response (Mann-Whitney test, p-value =0.04), but not CD8 and PD-L1 proximity. Because viral neoantigens can elicit a strong immune response, we also studied these TME factors for their potential associations with MCPyV. We found the presence of virus was significantly associated with increased densities of PT CD8+ cells (Mann-Whitney test, p-value=0.008) and TC PD-L1 expression (Fisher's test, p-value=0.04), but not PD-1+ IC. A more extensive multiplex IF panel (CD8, PD-1, PD-L1, CD68, FoxP3, NSE) analysis was performed on select pre-treatment specimens using the Vectra multispectral imaging system (Perkin Elmer) to explore this divergence. We found that only ~60% of observed total PD-1 expression was displayed by CD8+ cells. Although preliminary, our results suggest a relationship between PD-1+ cells and response to anti-PD-1 therapy and highlight that lymphocyte subsets other than CD8+ T-cells may contribute to the observed response. Further studies in larger cohorts are needed to validate these results.

Citation Format: Nicolas A. Giraldo, Genevieve J. Kaunitz, Tricia R. Cottrell, Sneha Berry, Joel C. Sunshine, Peter Nguyen, Haiying Xu, Aleksandra Orgutsova, Candice D. Church, Natalie J. Miller, Jennifer H. Yearley, Evan J. Lipson, Ludmila Danilova, Paul T. Nghiem, Suzanne L. Topalian, Janis M. Taube. The differential association of PD-1, PD-L1, and CD8+ cells with response to pembrolizumab and presence of Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 662. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-662