Abstract A57: Adoptive T cell therapy for ovarian cancer: Application of a surgically relevant model
Authors: Morse Christopher B. , Anderson Kristin G. , Bates Breanna M. , Chiu Edison Y. , Garcia Nicolas M. , Greenberg Philip D. 
Published: February 2019

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic cancer, with more than 20,000 new diagnoses and 15,000 cancer-related deaths annually. Current standard therapy for advanced ovarian cancer incorporates upfront surgical cytoreduction followed by cytotoxic chemotherapy. But even with advances in surgical technique, chemotherapeutics and targeted delivery methods, the overall five-year survival rate remains ~50%, highlighting the need for novel treatment strategies. We have focused our efforts on immunotherapy by adoptive transfer of engineered T cells that can target proteins uniquely overexpressed in ovarian cancer. Recent work has identified mesothelin (MSLN) as a potential target, as this protein is overexpressed in malignant ovarian tissue, promotes the oncogenic phenotype, and has limited expression in healthy cells. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that mouse and human T cells engineered to express T cell receptors (TCR) with high-affinity for MSLN kill respectively murine and human ovarian tumor cells in vitro. Furthermore, in vivo studies in mice treating metastatic disease developing after intraperitoneal introduction of mouse ID8 ovarian cancer cells have demonstrated that engineered, adoptively transferred T cells preferentially accumulate in ID8 ovarian cancers, reduce tumor burden and prolong survival. However, our results also revealed that the tumor microenvironment (TME) can limit the persistence and killing capacity of engineered T cells. Immunosuppressive cells, inhibitory ligands that reduce T cell function, and cell death-inducing ligands are abundant within ID8 tumors, and cellular and molecular analyses of human ovarian cancer specimens showed that human T cell therapy will face similar TME-mediated obstacles. The ovarian cancer TME is also a nutrient- and oxygen-deprived milieu, and the adaptive metabolic responses required for survival by infiltrating T cells have protean effects on T cell function. Thus, strategies that modulate T cell responses to inhibitory signals, including metabolic pathways, have the potential to influence activity in the TME, and to enhance T cell function and improve anti-tumor efficacy. Ongoing studies exploring strategies to overcome elements common to the human and murine TME, including both direct modulation of the microenvironment and engineering of T cells to overcome critical components of immune evasion by solid tumors and to promote T cell survival and function, will be discussed.

Building upon this work, we have been developing a novel model that more directly reflects the clinical setting requiring intervention. Following orthotopic injection of ID8 ovarian cancer cells directly beneath the ovarian bursa, tumorigenesis occurs initially within the ovary/fallopian tube microenvironment, and is followed by development of small volume metastatic disease. This orthotopic model, which results in formation of intraperitoneal metastatic implants originating from the ovary, replicates the development and patterns of metastatic spread of human ovarian cancer. Following intervention with primary surgical cytoreduction that includes hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, mice are being treated by adoptive transfer of antigen-specific T cells to target minimal residual disease in the peritoneal cavity, which models the clinical situation of patients requiring treatment after optimal surgical cytoreduction. Ongoing studies will be discussed that have been designed to modulate the function and persistence of transferred, MSLN-specific T cells and assess the impact on in vivo tumor development and survival in this clinically relevant model of ovarian cancer treatment.

Citation Format: Christopher B. Morse, Kristin G. Anderson, Breanna M. Bates, Edison Y. Chiu, Nicolas M. Garcia, Philip D. Greenberg. Adoptive T cell therapy for ovarian cancer: Application of a surgically relevant model [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2017 Oct 1-4; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2018;6(9 Suppl):Abstract nr A57.