Abstract 3196: Subtype-specific targeting of cell surfaceome with CAR T therapies in small cell lung cancer
Authors: Zhang Bingnan , Yang Yan , Stewart C.Allison , Ramkumar Kavya , Wang Runsheng , Cardnell Robert , Diao Lixia , Wang Qi , Wang Jing , Byers Lauren , Gay Carl , Heymach John 
Published: April 2023

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly lethal malignancy with limited treatment options. Most SCLC are “immune-cold” and respond poorly to immunotherapy. Targeting SCLC cell surfaceome with cellular therapies have shown promising efficacy and tolerability in DLL3-targeting CAR T (AMG119) and Bispecific T-cell engager (tarlatamab). Recent work has defined subtypes of SCLC based on master transcription factors ASCL1 (SCLC-A), NEUROD1 (SCLC-N), POU2F3 (SCLC-P) and an immune cell-rich “inflamed” subtype(SCLC-I). Notably, SCLC-A and SCLC-N express neuroendocrine (NE) features while SCLC-P and SCLC-I are non-neuroendocrine (non-NE). We hypothesize that SCLC may have distinct surfaceome expressions based on their subtypes, which can be successfully targeted with cellular therapies such as CAR T.

Methods: Transcriptional profiling of patient tumors identified several putative cell surfaceome targets in SCLC. We confirmed their expression level by Western blot and flow cytometry in SCLC cell lines stratified by subtypes. Top targets were selected based on abundant expression in SCLC and restricted normal tissue expression. We then constructed third-generation CAR T-cells against the top targets and tested their efficacy in cancer cell/CAR T co-culture models and in vivo.

Results: We validated cell surface expression of top targets DLL3, CD56 and GD2; and generated CAR Ts against these targets to test cytotoxicity across a large panel of SCLC cell lines. Specifically, DLL3 is present predominantly in SCLC-A and SCLC-N (NE) subtypes. CAR T against DLL3 showed robust cytotoxicity in vitro against DLL3-expressing cell lines (5 out of 6 SCLC-A/N cell lines, versus 1 out of 6 SCLC-P/I cell lines; median cytotoxicity 94% vs. 43%, p=0.0082, Mann-Whitney U test), as well as promising in vivo activity. We also confirmed CD56 (NCAM1) was broadly expressed on the cell surface in SCLC A/P/N subtypes, and 8 out of 9 cell lines with high CD56 expression demonstrated over 50% cytotoxicity in co-culture models. GD2 was found to be enriched specifically in SCLC-N subtype of SCLC. As expected, GD2-targeting CAR T had higher cytotoxicity in SCLC-N subtypes of SCLC compared to other subtypes (median cytotoxicity 91% vs 22%, p=0.047). Moreover, given that novel therapeutics are often tested in the relapsed setting, we tested target expressions in SCLC cell lines after treatment with cisplatin and etoposide (standard frontline chemotherapy for SCLC) to see if target levels change. We found that surface target expressions increased instead of decreased in most cell lines, suggesting that they may be suitable targets in the relapsed setting also.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated efficacy of CAR Ts targeting several cell surfaceome targets enriched in certain subtypes of SCLC. The data supports further investigation of a subtype-specific personalized treatment of SCLC using CAR T therapies against surfaceome targets.

Citation Format: Bingnan Zhang, Yan Yang, C.Allison Stewart, Kavya Ramkumar, Runsheng Wang, Robert Cardnell, Lixia Diao, Qi Wang, Jing Wang, Lauren Byers, Carl Gay, John Heymach. Subtype-specific targeting of cell surfaceome with CAR T therapies in small cell lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3196.