Abstract 1241: Enhancing NK cell therapy for head and neck cancer within the solid tumor microenvironment using a B7H3-targeting tri-specific killer engager (TriKE)
Authors: Khaw Melissa , Zorko Nicholas A. , Selleck Carly , Bendzick Laura , Davis Zachary , Hinderlie Peter , Shackelford Madison , Lu Ann , Lim James , Fujioka Naomi , MacMillan Margaret , Wagner John , Felices Martin , Miller Jeffrey S. 
Published: March 2024

With an annual incidence rate exceeding 660,000 cases, and a death toll surpassing 325,000 per year, head and neck cancer (HNC) ranks as the seventh most common cancer in the world. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are used to treat HNC patients with modest and variable clinical success. However, these treatments prove less effective for human papillomavirus negative (HPV-) HNC patients, a subset of HNC patients with markedly worse prognosis. While significant advancements have been made in cancer immunotherapy over the past decade, its success also remains elusive for HNC due to factors such as the hypoxic solid tumor microenvironment (TME). To address the critical need for an improved therapeutic intervention, we leveraged the ability of natural killer (NK) cells in killing cancer cells without prior sensitization by developing a novel tri-specific killer engager (TriKE) that can direct NK cell killing of tumor within the hypoxic solid TME. The TriKE is composed of three domains: a humanized nanobody arm binding the activating receptor CD16 on NK cells, an interleukin (IL)-15 moiety that can drive expansion of NK cells, and a nanobody arm binding B7H3, a protein which high expression can be negatively correlated with overall survival of HPV- HNC patients. B7H3 is a prime target candidate because it is highly expressed on HPV- HNC cells, but minimally expressed on healthy tissues. In vitro testing using HPV- HNC patient blood samples revealed that B7H3 TriKE enhances activation (measured by NK cell degranulation and interferon-gamma production) and expansion of NK cells from these patients at levels equivalent to those observed in healthy controls. Furthermore, B7H3 TriKE is efficacious in its ability to drive high NK cell cytotoxicity in both acute (&lt;48-hours) and prolonged (7-days) hypoxic (1% oxygen) models of HNC. Under acute hypoxia, B7H3 TriKE induces significantly more killing of targets by NK cells compared to IL-15 treatment, where NK cell cytotoxicity is impaired. In addition, B7H3 TriKE can boost the killing efficacy of NK cells exposed to prolonged hypoxia, surpassing limitations seen with IL-15 treatment. These findings strongly suggest that the B7H3 TriKE can bypass hypoxic suppression of NK effector functions in the solid TME. In vivo studies using immunocompromised mice engrafted with HPV- HNC cells revealed that B7H3 TriKE treatment significantly extends the survival of mice, compared to IL-15 treatment. Moreover, NK cells persisted in the blood of B7H3 TriKE-treated mice 28 days post-NK cell injection, highlighting the promising clinical translation of this immunotherapy. More in-depth characterization of NK cells from HPV- HNC patients are underway but altogether, these robust pre-clinical data present a novel avenue for the management of HNC for these patients. We plan to translate results from these studies to clinical trials in fall 2024.

Citation Format: Melissa Khaw, Nicholas A. Zorko, Carly Selleck, Laura Bendzick, Zachary Davis, Peter Hinderlie, Madison Shackelford, Ann Lu, James Lim, Naomi Fujioka, Margaret MacMillan, John Wagner, Martin Felices, Jeffrey S. Miller. Enhancing NK cell therapy for head and neck cancer within the solid tumor microenvironment using a B7H3-targeting tri-specific killer engager (TriKE) [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 1241.