Cancer can be considered a disease of aging due to the fact the majority of patients diagnosed are over the age of 55 years old. Immunotherapy (IT) offers perhaps the greatest likelihood for cancer control or eradication and has recently shown great promise in its application. However, it can also be associated with significant toxicities which can limit the efficacy and/or duration of treatment. Surprisingly, there has been a paucity of preclinical studies evaluating the impact of age on IT responses. We have exciting preliminary data indicating that age and body fat content has a marked and dramatic impact on inducing a pro-inflammatory state and outcome after application of IT. Aged mice rapidly succumbed to multi-organ toxicities due to induction of a cytokine storm. This inflammatory state was also exacerbated with high body fat content. Reduction in body fat composition or blockade of TNF could allow for successful IT to be applied in tumor models in the aged. Additionally, a potent immunosuppressive environment was induced following IT which markedly limits the duration and efficacy of treatment. The current proposal will seek to discern the mechanism(s) underlying these dramatic consequences and assess means to circumvent them to improve anti-tumor efficacy while minimizing toxicities. We propose 3 SPECIFIC AIMS assessing the effects and efficacy of IT in aged versus young mice:
SPECIFIC AIM 1 will ascertain the role of macrophages on this heightened pro-inflammatory state as well as therapeutic intervention with cytokine blockade and/or caloric restriction. Effects on not only the cytokines but the cytokine receptors will be determined. Both human and mouse macrophages will be assessed by microarray to identify other targets which allow for successful application of IT.
SPECIFIC AIM 2 will build off this aim and assess the interventions (macrophage depletion, TNF/IL6 blockade, caloric restriction) on the anti-tumor effects and immune parameters following IT. Various tumor models including the slowly progressing MINO breast cancer model will be applied. Finally, SPECIFIC AIM 3 will dissect the immunosuppressive environment induced after IT and determine if age/body fat content impacts the extent of immunosuppression induced with the hypothesis that strong immune stimulation will particularly have a long- lasting impact on the aged immune system. We will apply the anti-inflammatory approaches including use of ghrelin based on our preliminary data, to reduce these suppressive pathways and allow for greater immune augmentation in increased and durable anti-tumor effects. This proposal therefore has the potential for immediate clinical translatability and impact on human cancer patients.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA095572-11
Application #
8608486
Study Section
Cancer Immunopathology and Immunotherapy Study Section (CII)
Program Officer
Mccarthy, Susan A
Project Start
2002-09-01
Project End
2018-01-31
Budget Start
2014-02-01
Budget End
2015-01-31
Support Year
11
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Davis
Department
Dermatology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
City
Davis
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
95618
Aguilar, Ethan G; Murphy, William J (2018) Obesity induced T cell dysfunction and implications for cancer immunotherapy. Curr Opin Immunol 51:181-186
Sckisel, Gail D; Mirsoian, Annie; Minnar, Christine M et al. (2017) Differential phenotypes of memory CD4 and CD8 T cells in the spleen and peripheral tissues following immunostimulatory therapy. J Immunother Cancer 5:33
Mall, Christine; Sckisel, Gail D; Proia, David A et al. (2016) Repeated PD-1/PD-L1 monoclonal antibody administration induces fatal xenogeneic hypersensitivity reactions in a murine model of breast cancer. Oncoimmunology 5:e1075114
Monjazeb, Arta M; Kent, Michael S; Grossenbacher, Steven K et al. (2016) Blocking Indolamine-2,3-Dioxygenase Rebound Immune Suppression Boosts Antitumor Effects of Radio-Immunotherapy in Murine Models and Spontaneous Canine Malignancies. Clin Cancer Res 22:4328-40
Sckisel, Gail D; Mirsoian, Annie; Bouchlaka, Myriam N et al. (2015) Late administration of murine CTLA-4 blockade prolongs CD8-mediated anti-tumor effects following stimulatory cancer immunotherapy. Cancer Immunol Immunother 64:1541-52
Mirsoian, Annie; Murphy, William J (2015) Obesity and cancer immunotherapy toxicity. Immunotherapy 7:319-22
Erdembileg, Anuurad; Mirsoian, Annie; Enkhmaa, Byambaa et al. (2015) Attenuated age-impact on systemic inflammatory markers in the presence of a metabolic burden. PLoS One 10:e0121947
Zamora, Anthony E; Grossenbacher, Steven K; Aguilar, Ethan G et al. (2015) Models to Study NK Cell Biology and Possible Clinical Application. Curr Protoc Immunol 110:14.37.1-14
Sckisel, Gail D; Bouchlaka, Myriam N; Monjazeb, Arta M et al. (2015) Out-of-Sequence Signal 3 Paralyzes Primary CD4(+) T-Cell-Dependent Immunity. Immunity 43:240-50
Monjazeb, Arta M; Tietze, Julia K; Grossenbacher, Steven K et al. (2014) Bystander activation and anti-tumor effects of CD8+ T cells following Interleukin-2 based immunotherapy is independent of CD4+ T cell help. PLoS One 9:e102709

Showing the most recent 10 out of 29 publications