Our long term goal is to develop effective immunotherapy strategies for brain tumors. Our preclinical translational cancer immunologic studies and early phase vaccination trials in the current funding period demonstrated the safety and immunological activity of our efforts to up-regulate type-1 antitumor T cell responses. We now propose to extend this work by exploring the ability of a specific set of microRNAs (miRs) to enhance the immunotherapeutic potential of these T cells. Our miR microarray analyses revealed that the miR-17-92 cluster of microRNAs (miR-17-92), which is known to promote cell survival and proliferation, is one of the most significantly over-expressed miR in murine type-1 T cells compared with type-2 cells. Our data suggest that the type-2-skewing tumor microenvironment can induce downregulation of miR- 17-92 expression in T cells, thereby diminishing the persistence and efficacy of tumor-specific T cells. Furthermore, T cells derived from miR-17-92 transgenic (TG) mice demonstrated superior type-1 phenotype with increased IFN-3 production and VLA-4 expression when compared with counterparts derived from wild type mice. Major barriers to cancer immunotherapy include the poor immunogenicity of tumor-antigens (TAs) and the short duration of T cell survival in tumor-bearing hosts. However, our data and those from others strongly suggest that miR-17-92 expression in T cells will lower the threshold for activation and enhance T cell proliferation, survival and type-1 functions. We therefore hypothesize that engineering TA-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to express the miR-17-92 cluster will provide potent and durable antitumor activity by potentiating TA-specific type-1 CTL functions. We will evaluate our hypothesis using T cells derived from mice TG for miR-17-92 and T cell receptor (TCR)-specific for hgp100 25-33 (Pmel) (miR-17- 92/Pmel-TG T cells). Specifically, we will determine whether:
Aim 1 : miR-17-92 overexpression enhances activation and survival of type-1 anti-tumor T cells in vitro We will test our hypothesis that transgene-mediated expression of miR-17-92 in TA-specific CTLs will increase sensitivity to TAs, survival, and type-1 function without inducing oncogenic transformation.
Aim 2 : TA-specific CTLs overexpressing miR-17-92 confer durable and robust type-1 immunity in vivo We will address whether miR-17-92 expression improves: 1) expansion and persistence of type-1 TA-specific CTLs;2) development of memory T cells;and 3) recall responses for CTL activity in non-tumor bearing mice.
Aim 3 : Adoptive transfer of T cells engineered to express miR-17-92 increases anti-tumor effects. We will determine whether ACT of miR-17-92/Pmel-TG CTLs will provide durable and effective anti-glioma immune responses compared with control Pmel-TG CTLs in mice bearing GL261 or de novo murine gliomas. These proposed preclinical studies will have significant impact on not only glioma-immunotherapy, but also the entire field of cancer immunotherapy, particularly through genetic engineering of TA-specific T cells.

Public Health Relevance

Our long term goal is to develop effective immunotherapy strategies for brain tumors. We have translated our past preclinical findings into early clinical trials that demonstrated safety and immunological activities. The currently proposed preclinical study will evaluate an entirely novel immunotherapy approach with engineering of microRNAs in anti-tumor T cells, which we hope to translate into clinical trials in near future.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS055140-05
Application #
8223145
Study Section
Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors Study Section (CNBT)
Program Officer
Fountain, Jane W
Project Start
2006-04-01
Project End
2016-01-31
Budget Start
2012-02-01
Budget End
2013-01-31
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$325,222
Indirect Cost
$106,472
Name
University of Pittsburgh
Department
Neurosurgery
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
004514360
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213
Chheda, Zinal S; Kohanbash, Gary; Okada, Kaori et al. (2018) Novel and shared neoantigen derived from histone 3 variant H3.3K27M mutation for glioma T cell therapy. J Exp Med 215:141-157
Kohanbash, Gary; Carrera, Diego A; Shrivastav, Shruti et al. (2017) Isocitrate dehydrogenase mutations suppress STAT1 and CD8+ T cell accumulation in gliomas. J Clin Invest 127:1425-1437
Kosaka, Akemi; Ohkuri, Takayuki; Ikeura, Maki et al. (2015) Transgene-derived overexpression of miR-17-92 in CD8+ T-cells confers enhanced cytotoxic activity. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 458:549-554
Ahn, Brian; Kohanbash, Gary; Ohkuri, Takayuki et al. (2015) Histamine deficiency promotes accumulation of immunosuppressive immature myeloid cells and growth of murine gliomas. Oncoimmunology 4:e1047581
Ohkuri, Takayuki; Ghosh, Arundhati; Kosaka, Akemi et al. (2015) Protective role of STING against gliomagenesis: Rational use of STING agonist in anti-glioma immunotherapy. Oncoimmunology 4:e999523
Ohkuri, Takayuki; Ghosh, Arundhati; Kosaka, Akemi et al. (2014) STING contributes to antiglioma immunity via triggering type I IFN signals in the tumor microenvironment. Cancer Immunol Res 2:1199-208
Kosaka, Akemi; Ohkuri, Takayuki; Okada, Hideho (2014) Combination of an agonistic anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody and the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib induces anti-glioma effects by promotion of type-1 immunity in myeloid cells and T-cells. Cancer Immunol Immunother 63:847-57
Ohno, Masasuke; Ohkuri, Takayuki; Kosaka, Akemi et al. (2013) Expression of miR-17-92 enhances anti-tumor activity of T-cells transduced with the anti-EGFRvIII chimeric antigen receptor in mice bearing human GBM xenografts. J Immunother Cancer 1:21
Kohanbash, Gary; McKaveney, Kayla; Sakaki, Masashi et al. (2013) GM-CSF promotes the immunosuppressive activity of glioma-infiltrating myeloid cells through interleukin-4 receptor-*. Cancer Res 73:6413-23
Okada, Hideho; Scheurer, Michael E; Sarkar, Saumendra N et al. (2013) Integration of epidemiology, immunobiology, and translational research for brain tumors. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1284:17-23

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