Abstract 1174: Incorporation of multisector analysis into the design of personalized DNA vaccines for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma
Authors: Garfinkle Elizabeth A. , Miller Katherine E. , Livingstone Alexandra J. , Perales-Linares Renzo , Cooch Neil , Perales-Puchalt Alfredo , Rochestie Sarah , Peters Joann , Sardesai Niranjan Y. , Gillanders William E. , Mardis Elaine R. , Dunn Gavin P. , Johanns Tanner M. 
Published: March 2024

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant central nervous system (CNS) tumor in adults. Despite multimodality treatment including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, patients with GBM have a median survival of less than 2 years. Recent clinical trials have reported promising results using cancer vaccines to stimulate a tumor-directed immune response in several histologies. The majority of trials targeted tumor neoantigens derived from a single tumor sample, which limits the antigen pool in spatially heterogeneous cancers like GBM. Our group previously implemented multisector sequencing into the design of personalized peptide vaccines to increase the candidate pool of targetable neoantigens (NCT03422094). Although the peptide vaccine treatment was successful in stimulating an effector T cell response, it was limited by a long turnaround time from vaccine design to administration and a low peptide production rate. Therefore, we incorporated multisector sampling into the design of a personalized DNA-based GBM vaccine (NCT04015700). An average of 33% of the candidate targetable neoantigens were spatially restricted to a single sampled region, which would have been missed without multisector sequencing. DNA-based vaccines are potentially advantageous over peptide-based vaccines because they enable a higher neoantigen payload and faster manufacturing time with potent immunogenicity. Here, we report the results from 9 subjects enrolled onto the study. Spatially distinct tumor regions were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES) and RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), data from which were used to identify neoantigens through the pVACseq algorithm (http://pvactools.org). An average of 32 neoantigens were included in each DNA vaccine, compared to an average of only 9 for the peptide vaccine, and the turnaround time from date of surgery to administration of the DNA vaccine was about half the time. Three subjects had radiographic evidence of tumor progression prior to vaccination, highlighting the aggressive nature of GBM and the need for short manufacturing timeframes. PBMCs pre- and post-DNA vaccination were collected from 7/9 subjects. All subjects presented detectable responses and 6/7 tested revealed a sustained increment in T cell reactivity against tumor neoantigens post-treatment by IFN-γ ELISpot. Intracellular staining showed a neoantigen-specific antitumor CD8/CD4 T cell cytolytic (CD69+, CD107a+) and proliferative (Ki67+) profile. Post-vaccination tumor resections were performed for 2 subjects who also were treated with PD1 blockade upon progression, providing an opportunity to explore vaccine-induced changes in the tumor microenvironment. Herein, we demonstrate the advantages of incorporating multisector sequencing into the development of DNA-based GBM vaccines and provide insights into the resulting immune responses.

Citation Format: Elizabeth A. Garfinkle, Katherine E. Miller, Alexandra J. Livingstone, Renzo Perales-Linares, Neil Cooch, Alfredo Perales-Puchalt, Sarah Rochestie, Joann Peters, Niranjan Y. Sardesai, William E. Gillanders, Elaine R. Mardis, Gavin P. Dunn, Tanner M. Johanns. Incorporation of multisector analysis into the design of personalized DNA vaccines for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 1174.