Abstract 1331: Elucidating cell-to-cell communication and immunotherapy responses in deeply characterized mouse models of human glioma subtypes
Authors: Wang Caiyi , Maldonado Jose , Gallup Thomas D. , Abdelfattah Nourhan , Leu Jia-Shiun , Joshy Nithin , George joshy , Paik Jihye , Squatrito Massimo , Yun Kyuson 
Published: June 2022

Immunotherapy is a promising treatment modality for highly invasive gliomas; however, clinical trials thus far have failed to provide significant clinical benefit to most GBM patients. GBM is one of the “immune cold” tumors characterized by poor infiltration of T cells even though greater than 40% of glioma cells are composed of immune cells in some patients. The majority of immune cells in GBM are immune-suppressive myeloid cells that block T cell infiltration and/or activation. To elucidate the mechanisms of immune evasion and to understand how the immune system interacts with glioma and stromal cells that shape the immune-suppressive landscape in GBM, there is an urgent need for immune-competent preclinical models that recapitulate the human disease. Human GBM is divided into three molecular subtypes (proneural:PR, classical:CL, and mesenchymal:MES) based on specific gene expression patterns and signature mutational profiles. Here, we report multi-dimensional analyses of six different transplantable mouse glioma models in the C57BL6/J background that represent all three human GBM molecular subtypes. We performed whole-exome sequencing as well as STR fingerprinting of each primary tumorsphere line and also performed immune phenotyping of each glioma model with flow cytometry. To gain molecular insights and determine cellular heterogeneity, we also performed single-cell RNA sequencing from the six models. Glioma cell analysis at the single-cell level revealed that cell-of-origin rather than the oncogenic driver (such as EGFRviii) plays a dominant role in determining the molecular phenotypes of glioma cells, driving their classification into a molecular subtype defined by human studies. In addition, we identified eight molecular subtypes of glioma-associated myeloid (GAMs), seven different subtypes of T cells, and provide molecular definitions of glioma-associated pericytes and endothelial cells in murine gliomas. In addition, we performed cross-species comparisons of glioma and immune cell subtypes between humans and mice at the single-cell level. Furthermore, we report qualitative and quantitative differences in the cell-to-cell communication among different stromal cells and glioma cells in each model, and propose that these interactions shape the local niche and functional neighborhoods. Finally, we leverage these preclinical models to elucidate underlying molecular mechanisms that drive differential sensitivities of each model to immunotherapies: anti-PD1, CTLA4, and 4-1BB in vivo. In summary, we report deeply characterized mouse models of human GBM subtypes and highlight their utility as preclinical models for immunotherapy evaluation and foundational tumor immunology studies.

Citation Format: Caiyi Wang, Jose Maldonado, Thomas D. Gallup, Nourhan Abdelfattah, Jia-Shiun Leu, Nithin Joshy, joshy George, Jihye Paik, Massimo Squatrito, Kyuson Yun. Elucidating cell-to-cell communication and immunotherapy responses in deeply characterized mouse models of human glioma subtypes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1331.