Abstract 1448: MDSC depletion delays primary tumor growth in syngeneic models of oral cavity cancer
Authors: Clavijo Paul E. , Davis Ruth , Chen Zhong , Van Waes Carter , Allen Clint T. 
Published: July 2016

Carcinogen-associated oral cavity cancers are a heterogeneous group of aggressive cancers with a high recurrence rate after definitive treatment and a poor 5-year survival. The genetic alteration rate of these cancers tends to be high, and many oral cancers express immune checkpoint molecules in the tumor microenvironment with potential to respond to checkpoint blocking immunotherapy. Local immunosuppression mediated by both the tumor cells and other infiltrating immune cells are likely a major mechanism of resistance to immunotherapy. Here, we investigated the role of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in a highly aggressive but poorly immunogenic syngeneic model of carcinogen-induced oral cavity cancer (MOC2). Performing a time course analysis of immune infiltrates, MOC2 tumors demonstrated robust recruitment of CXCR2+CSFR1+CCR2− MDSCs that peaked at 15 days following tumor transplantation. This intratumoral accumulation of MDSCs preceded draining lymph node and splenic MDSC accumulation by 6 and 9 days respectively. The accumulation of MDSCs corresponded to a sharp decrease in the presence of tumor infiltrating CD8+ T-lymphocytes (TIL), CD4+ TIL, FoxP3+CD4+ Tregs and CD3−NK1.1+ NK cells. As CD8+ TIL numbers decreased, cell surface expression of the lymphocyte activation markers CD69, CD44 and ICOS decreased with the checkpoint molecule CTLA-4 increased. Phenotypically, the great majority of tumor-infiltrating MDSCs were granulocytic MDSCs (Ly6GhiLy6Cint), while few were monocytic MDSCs (Ly6GloLy6Chi). In a CFSE-based functional T-lymphocyte suppression assay, sorted peripheral and tumor-infiltrating MDSCs strongly suppressed T-lymphocyte proliferation at MDSC:T-lymphocyte ratios as low as 1:32. Hypothesizing that decreased tumor MDSCs would impact primary tumor growth, MOC2 tumors were allowed to engraft to 100mm3 and depletion of granulocytic MDSCs was performed with a rat anti-mouse Ly6G depleting antibody (clone RB6-8C5). This depletion resulted in a statistically significant delay in MOC2 primary tumor growth. Flow cytometric analysis of tumor tissues revealed that MDSC depletion was transient with rapid rebound of MDSC tumor infiltration within days of depleting antibody administration. This data highlights the critical role that MDSCs play in local immunosuppression and suggest that the syngeneic MOC model represents a powerful tool to study MDSC pathobiology. Functional inhibition or elimination of MDSCs from the tumor microenvironment represents an exciting adjuvant therapy that may enhance the response to checkpoint inhibition in patients with oral cavity cancer.

Citation Format: Paul E. Clavijo, Ruth Davis, Zhong Chen, Carter Van Waes, Clint T. Allen. MDSC depletion delays primary tumor growth in syngeneic models of oral cavity cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1448.