Abstract 5630: Immune profile of tumor microenvironment helps predict response in patients treated with an investigational immunotherapeutic consisting of a retroviral replicating vector (Toca 511) and an extended-release formulation of 5-fluorocytosine (Toca FC)
Authors: Ostertag Derek , Accomando William , Mitchell Leah , Rodriguez-Aguirre Maria , Hogan Daniel , Diago Oscar , Gammon Dawn , Haghighi Ali , Gruber Harry , Das Asha , Jolly Douglas 
Published: August 2018

Toca 511 (vocimagene amiretrorepvec) is an investigational, conditionally lytic, retroviral replicating vector (RRV). RRVs selectively infect cancer cells due to defects in innate and adaptive immune responses found in cancers that support virus replication, and cell division requirements for virus integration into the genome. Toca 511 spreads through cancer cells, stably delivering an optimized cytosine deaminase (CD) gene that converts the prodrug Toca FC (investigational, extended-release 5-fluorocytosine) into 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a canonical chemotherapeutic. In preclinical tumor models, as infected cancer cells are killed, diffusible 5-FU also kills nearby susceptible cells, including uninfected cancer cells, and myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) that contribute to immune-suppression in the tumor microenvironment. This action by Toca 511 and Toca FC has been shown in animal models to generate a durable anti-tumor immune response that can be transferred to naïve, untreated animals. The Toca 511 and Toca FC immunotherapeutic are proposed to remodel the tumor microenvironment to break tumor tolerance resulting in induction of antitumor activity by the patient's immune system and durable complete responses. In a phase 1 clinical study for recurrent high grade glioma (NCT01470794), Toca 511 was injected into resection cavity walls at time of resection followed by multiple courses of oral Toca FC. We observed multi-year durable and objective responses; including 5 ongoing complete responses in a group of 23 patients in the higher dose single agent treatment cohorts given approximately the same Toca 511 doses and having the same entry criteria as an ongoing Phase 3 study in recurrent high grade glioma (NCT02414165). Patient tumors at time of resection were analyzed by exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, IHC, and TCR sequencing, before Toca 511 treatment. In this study, we report higher levels of tumor infiltrating T cells by TCR sequencing, before the start of treatment, were significantly associated with responding patients compared to patients whose disease progressed. The significance of this data is supported by the preclinical mechanism of action reported previously. Additionally, we plan to report on T cell, B cell, and myeloid populations in the tumor as measured by IHC and RNA sequencing and their relationship to clinical response. Data reported here will provide mechanistic context to the immunotherapeutic mode of action proposed to account for durable responses seen in treatment of brain tumors with Toca 511 and Toca FC.

Citation Format: Derek Ostertag, William Accomando, Leah Mitchell, Maria Rodriguez-Aguirre, Daniel Hogan, Oscar Diago, Dawn Gammon, Ali Haghighi, Harry Gruber, Asha Das, Douglas Jolly. Immune profile of tumor microenvironment helps predict response in patients treated with an investigational immunotherapeutic consisting of a retroviral replicating vector (Toca 511) and an extended-release formulation of 5-fluorocytosine (Toca FC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5630.