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New studies link cell cycle proteins to immunosurveillance of premalignant cells

Posted in Apoptosis, Biological Networks, Biological Networks, Gene Regulation and Evolution, Cancer - General, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, Cell Biology, Signaling & Cell Circuits, Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC), Disease Biology, DNA repair, Efficacy of Anti-Tumor T Cells, Exosomes, Exosomes: Natural Carriers for siRNA Delivery, Immune Modulatory, Immuno-Oncology & Genomics, Immunology, KRAS Mutation, Modulating Macrophages in Cancer Immunotherapy, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, TP53 - Germline mutations, tagged CDKI, cell cycle, cell cycle arrest, cell cycle protein, cellular senescence, DNA repair or transcription factor genes, Immunology, immunosuppression, immunosurveillance, NF-kB, p21, p53, premalignant, transcriptional, transcriptional regulation, tumor suppressors on December 16, 2021| Leave a Comment »

New studies link cell cycle proteins to immunosurveillance of premalignant cells

Curator: Stephen J. Williams, Ph.D.

The following is from a Perspectives article in the journal Science by Virinder Reen and Jesus Gil called “Clearing Stressed Cells: Cell cycle arrest produces a p21-dependent secretome that initaites immunosurveillance of premalignant cells”. This is a synopsis of the Sturmlechener et al. research article in the same issue (2).

Complex organisms repair stress-induced damage to limit the replication of faulty cells that could drive cancer. When repair is not possible, tissue homeostasis is maintained by the activation of stress response programs such as apoptosis, which eliminates the cells, or senescence, which arrests them (1). Cellular senescence causes the arrest of damaged cells through the induction of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKIs) such as p16 and p21 (2). Senescent cells also produce a bioactive secretome (the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, SASP) that places cells under immunosurveillance, which is key to avoiding the detrimental inflammatory effects caused by lingering senescent cells on surrounding tissues. On page 577 of this issue, Sturmlechner et al. (3) report that induction of p21 not only contributes to the arrest of senescent cells, but is also an early signal that primes stressed cells for immunosurveillance.Senescence is a complex program that is tightly regulated at the epigenetic and transcriptional levels. For example, exit from the cell cycle is controlled by the induction of p16 and p21, which inhibit phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (RB), a transcriptional regulator and tumor suppressor. Hypophosphorylated RB represses transcription of E2F target genes, which are necessary for cell cycle progression. Conversely, production of the SASP is regulated by a complex program that involves super-enhancer (SE) remodeling and activation of transcriptional regulators such as nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) or CCAAT enhancer binding protein–β (C/EBPβ) (4).

Senescence is a complex program that is tightly regulated at the epigenetic and transcriptional levels. For example, exit from the cell cycle is controlled by the induction of p16 and p21, which inhibit phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (RB), a transcriptional regulator and tumor suppressor. Hypophosphorylated RB represses transcription of E2F target genes, which are necessary for cell cycle progression. Conversely, production of the SASP is regulated by a complex program that involves super-enhancer (SE) remodeling and activation of transcriptional regulators such as nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) or CCAAT enhancer binding protein–β (C/EBPβ) (4).

Sturmlechner et al. found that activation of p21 following stress rapidly halted cell cycle progression and triggered an internal biological timer (of ∼4 days in hepatocytes), allowing time to repair and resolve damage (see the figure). In parallel, C-X-C motif chemokine 14 (CXCL14), a component of the PASP, attracted macrophages to surround and closely surveil these damaged cells. Stressed cells that recovered and normalized p21 expression suspended PASP production and circumvented immunosurveillance. However, if the p21-induced stress was unmanageable, the repair timer expired, and the immune cells transitioned from surveillance to clearance mode. Adjacent macrophages mounted a cytotoxic T lymphocyte response that destroyed damaged cells. Notably, the overexpression of p21 alone was sufficient to orchestrate immune killing of stressed cells, without the need of a senescence phenotype. Overexpression of other CDKIs, such as p16 and p27, did not trigger immunosurveillance, likely because they do not induce CXCL14 expression.In the context of cancer, senescent cell clearance was first observed following reactivation of the tumor suppressor p53 in liver cancer cells. Restoring p53 signaling induced senescence and triggered the elimination of senescent cells by the innate immune system, prompting tumor regression (5). Subsequent work has revealed that the SASP alerts the immune system to target preneoplastic senescent cells. Hepatocytes expressing the oncogenic mutant NRAS^G12V (Gly¹²→Val) become senescent and secrete chemokines and cytokines that trigger CD4⁺ T cell–mediated clearance (6). Despite the relevance for tumor suppression, relatively little is known about how immunosurveillance of oncogene-induced senescent cells is initiated and controlled.

Source of image: Reen, V. and Gil, J. Clearing Stressed Cells. Science Perspectives 2021;Vol 374(6567) p 534-535.

References

2. Sturmlechner I, Zhang C, Sine CC, van Deursen EJ, Jeganathan KB, Hamada N, Grasic J, Friedman D, Stutchman JT, Can I, Hamada M, Lim DY, Lee JH, Ordog T, Laberge RM, Shapiro V, Baker DJ, Li H, van Deursen JM. p21 produces a bioactive secretome that places stressed cells under immunosurveillance. Science. 2021 Oct 29;374(6567):eabb3420. doi: 10.1126/science.abb3420. Epub 2021 Oct 29. PMID: 34709885.

Inhibitory CD161 receptor recognized as a potential immunotherapy target in glioma-infiltrating T cells by single-cell analysis

Posted in Anticancer Resistance, “Antibody–enzyme conjugates”, Biochemical pathways, Cancer and Current Therapeutics, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer Genomics, Cancer Screening, Cancer Vaccines: Targeting Cancer Genes for Immunotherapy, CRISPR alternative for editing genes without cutting, Etiology, Gene Therapy & Gene Editing Development, Genomic Expression, Glioblastoma, Immunology, Immunotherapy, Innovation in Immunology Diagnostics, Metastasis Process, mRNA Therapeutics, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, tagged antibody-drug conjugate, cancer biology, CD161, gene expression, Glioblastoma, IDH-mutant gliomas, immune checkpoint, Immunotherapy, RNA sequencing, single-cell RNA-seq, T cells on February 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Inhibitory CD161 receptor recognized as a potential immunotherapy target in glioma-infiltrating T cells by single-cell analysis

Reporter: Dr. Premalata Pati, Ph.D., Postdoc

Brain tumors, especially the diffused Gliomas are of the most devastating forms of cancer and have so-far been resistant to immunotherapy. It is comprehended that T cells can penetrate the glioma cells, but it still remains unknown why infiltrating cells miscarry to mount a resistant reaction or stop the tumor development.

Gliomas are brain tumors that begin from neuroglial begetter cells. The conventional therapeutic methods including, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, have accomplished restricted changes inside glioma patients. Immunotherapy, a compliance in cancer treatment, has introduced a promising strategy with the capacity to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. This has been recognized since the spearheading revelation of lymphatics within the central nervous system. Glioma is not generally carcinogenic. As observed in a number of cases, the tumor cells viably reproduce and assault the adjoining tissues, by and large, gliomas are malignant in nature and tend to metastasize. There are four grades in glioma, and each grade has distinctive cell features and different treatment strategies. Glioblastoma is a grade IV glioma, which is the crucial aggravated form. This infers that all glioblastomas are gliomas, however, not all gliomas are glioblastomas.

Decades of investigations on infiltrating gliomas still take off vital questions with respect to the etiology, cellular lineage, and function of various cell types inside glial malignancies. In spite of the available treatment options such as surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the average survival rate for high-grade glioma patients remains 1–3 years (1).

A recent in vitro study performed by the researchers of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, USA, has recognized that CD161 is identified as a potential new target for immunotherapy of malignant brain tumors. The scientific team depicted their work in the Cell Journal, in a paper entitled, “Inhibitory CD161 receptor recognized in glioma-infiltrating T cells by single-cell analysis.” on 15th February 2021.

To further expand their research and findings, Dr. Kai Wucherpfennig, MD, PhD, Chief of the Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, at Dana-Farber stated that their research is additionally important in a number of other major human cancer types such as

melanoma,
lung,
colon, and
liver cancer.

Dr. Wucherpfennig has praised the other authors of the report Mario Suva, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts Common Clinic; Aviv Regev, PhD, of the Klarman Cell Observatory at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and David Reardon, MD, clinical executive of the Center for Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber.

Hence, this new study elaborates the effectiveness of the potential effectors of anti-tumor immunity in subsets of T cells that co-express cytotoxic programs and several natural killer (NK) cell genes.

The Study-

**IMAGE SOURCE: Experimental Strategy (Mathewson ***et al***., 2021)**

The group utilized single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to mull over gene expression and the clonal picture of tumor-infiltrating T cells. It involved the participation of 31 patients suffering from diffused gliomas and glioblastoma. Their work illustrated that the ligand molecule CLEC2D activates CD161, which is an immune cell surface receptor that restrains the development of cancer combating activity of immune T cells and tumor cells in the brain. The study reveals that the activation of CD161 weakens the T cell response against tumor cells.

Based on the study, the facts suggest that the analysis of clonally expanded tumor-infiltrating T cells further identifies the NK gene KLRB1 that codes for CD161 as a candidate inhibitory receptor. This was followed by the use of

CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology to inactivate the KLRB1 gene in T cells and showed that CD161 inhibits the tumor cell-killing function of T cells. Accordingly,
genetic inactivation of KLRB1 or
antibody-mediated CD161 blockade

enhances T cell-mediated killing of glioma cells in vitro and their anti-tumor function in vivo. KLRB1 and its associated transcriptional program are also expressed by substantial T cell populations in other forms of human cancers. The work provides an atlas of T cells in gliomas and highlights CD161 and other NK cell receptors as immune checkpoint targets.

Further, it has been identified that many cancer patients are being treated with immunotherapy drugs that disable their “immune checkpoints” and their molecular brakes are exploited by the cancer cells to suppress the body’s defensive response induced by T cells against tumors. Disabling these checkpoints lead the immune system to attack the cancer cells. One of the most frequently targeted checkpoints is PD-1. However, recent trials of drugs that target PD-1 in glioblastomas have failed to benefit the patients.

In the current study, the researchers found that fewer T cells from gliomas contained PD-1 than CD161. As a result, they said, “CD161 may represent an attractive target, as it is a cell surface molecule expressed by both CD8 and CD4 T cell subsets [the two types of T cells engaged in response against tumor cells] and a larger fraction of T cells express CD161 than the PD-1 protein.”

However, potential side effects of antibody-mediated blockade of the CLEC2D-CD161 pathway remain unknown and will need to be examined in a non-human primate model. The group hopes to use this finding in their future work by

utilizing their outline by expression of KLRB1 gene in tumor-infiltrating T cells in diffuse gliomas to make a remarkable contribution in therapeutics related to immunosuppression in brain tumors along with four other common human cancers ( Viz. melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), hepatocellular carcinoma, and colorectal cancer) and how this may be manipulated for prevalent survival of the patients.

References

(1) Anders I. Persson, QiWen Fan, Joanna J. Phillips, William A. Weiss, 39 – Glioma, Editor(s): Sid Gilman, Neurobiology of Disease, Academic Press, 2007, Pages 433-444, ISBN 9780120885923, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012088592-3/50041-4.

Main Source

Mathewson ND, Ashenberg O, Tirosh I, Gritsch S, Perez EM, Marx S, et al. 2021. Inhibitory CD161 receptor identified in glioma-infiltrating T cells by single-cell analysis. Cell.https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)00065-9?elqTrackId=c3dd8ff1d51f4aea87edd0153b4f2dc7

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Newly Found Functions of B Cell

Posted in Adaptive Immune Response to Biomaterials and Tissue Repair, Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Autoimmune Inflammatory DIseases, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer Vaccines: Targeting Cancer Genes for Immunotherapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, CNS-Immune Interface, combination immunotherapies., Cytokine Receptor Structure, Cytokines, Diagnostic Immunology, Human Immune System in Health and in Disease, Human Naive B Cell Repertoire, Immune Engineering, Immune Modulatory, Immuno-Oncology & Genomics, Immunodiagnostics, Immunology, Immunotherapy, Infectious Disease Immunodiagnostics, Innovation in Immunology Diagnostics, Integrin-targeted Combination Immunotherapy, Metabolic Immuno-Oncology, Modulating Macrophages in Cancer Immunotherapy, Monoclonal Immunotherapy, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Protection Against Autoimmune Disease, Synergistic Innate and Adaptive Immunotherapy, Synthetic Immunology: Hacking Immune Cells, Tolerance-inducing Autoimmune Disease Therapeutics, Universal Immune Cell Therapies (uICT), tagged Allergy, autoimmunity, B cell receptor, B-cell, Cancer, immune system, immunosuppression on May 23, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Newly Found Functions of B Cell

Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.

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4.1.8 Newly Found Functions of B Cell, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 4: Single Cell Genomics

The importance of B cells to human health is more than what is already known. Vaccines capable of eradicating disease activate B cells, cancer checkpoint blockade therapies are produced using B cells, and B cell deficiencies have devastating impacts. B cells have been a subject of fascination since at least the 1800s. The notion of a humoral branch to immunity emerged from the work of and contemporaries studying B cells in the early 1900s.

Efforts to understand how we could make antibodies from B cells against almost any foreign surface while usually avoiding making them against self, led to Burnet’s clonal selection theory. This was followed by the molecular definition of how a diversity of immunoglobulins can arise by gene rearrangement in developing B cells. Recombination activating gene (RAG)-dependent processes of V-(D)-J rearrangement of immunoglobulin (Ig) gene segments in developing B cells are now known to be able to generate an enormous amount of antibody diversity (theoretically at least 1016 possible variants).

With so much already known, B cell biology might be considered ‘‘done’’ with only incremental advances still to be made, but instead, there is great activity in the field today with numerous major challenges that remain. For example, efforts are underway to develop vaccines that induce broadly neutralizing antibody responses, to understand how autoantigen- and allergen-reactive antibodies arise, and to harness B cell-depletion therapies to correct non-autoantibody-mediated diseases, making it evident that there is still an enormous amount we do not know about B cells and much work to be done.

Multiple self-tolerance checkpoints exist to remove autoreactive specificities from the B cell repertoire or to limit the ability of such cells to secrete autoantigen-binding antibody. These include receptor editing and deletion in immature B cells, competitive elimination of chronically autoantigen binding B cells in the periphery, and a state of anergy that disfavors PC (plasma cell) differentiation. Autoantibody production can occur due to failures in these checkpoints or in T cell self-tolerance mechanisms. Variants in multiple genes are implicated in increasing the likelihood of checkpoint failure and of autoantibody production occurring.

Autoantibodies are pathogenic in a number of human diseases including SLE (Systemic lupus erythematosus), pemphigus vulgaris, Grave’s disease, and myasthenia gravis. B cell depletion therapy using anti-CD20 antibody has been protective in some of these diseases such as pemphigus vulgaris, but not others such as SLE and this appears to reflect the contribution of SLPC (Short lived plasma cells) versus LLPC (Long lived plasma cells) to autoantibody production and the inability of even prolonged anti-CD20 treatment to eliminate the later. These clinical findings have added to the importance of understanding what factors drive SLPC versus LLPC development and what the requirements are to support LLPCs.

B cell depletion therapy has also been efficacious in several other autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). While the potential contributions of autoantibodies to the pathology of these diseases are still being explored, autoantigen presentation has been posited as another mechanism for B cell disease-promoting activity.

In addition to autoimmunity, B cells play an important role in allergic diseases. IgE antibodies specific for allergen components sensitize mast cells and basophils for rapid degranulation in response to allergen exposures at various sites, such as in the intestine (food allergy), nose (allergic rhinitis), and lung (allergic asthma). IgE production may thus be favored under conditions that induce weak B cell responses and minimal GC (Germinal center) activity, thereby enabling IgE+ B cells and/or PCs to avoid being outcompeted by IgG+ cells. Aside from IgE antibodies, B cells may also contribute to allergic inflammation through their interactions with T cells.

B cells have also emerged as an important source of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10. Mouse studies revealed that B cell-derived IL-10 can promote recovery from EAE (Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis) and can be protective in models of RA and type 1 diabetes. Moreover, IL-10 production from B cells restrains T cell responses during some viral and bacterial infections. These findings indicate that the influence of B cells on the cytokine milieu will be context dependent.

The presence of B cells in a variety of solid tumor types, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and melanoma, has been associated in some studies with a positive prognosis. The mechanism involved is unclear but could include antigen presentation to CD4 and CD8 T cells, antibody production and subsequent enhancement of presentation, or by promoting tertiary lymphoid tissue formation and local T cell accumulation. It is also noteworthy that B cells frequently make antibody responses to cancer antigens and this has led to efforts to use antibodies from cancer patients as biomarkers of disease and to identify immunotherapy targets.

Malignancies of B cells themselves are a common form of hematopoietic cancer. This predilection arises because the gene modifications that B cells undergo during development and in immune responses are not perfect in their fidelity, and antibody responses require extensive B cell proliferation. The study of B cell lymphomas and their associated genetic derangements continues to be illuminating about requirements for normal B cell differentiation and signaling while also leading to the development of targeted therapies.

Overall this study attempted to capture some of the advances in the understanding of B cell biology that have occurred since the turn of the century. These include important steps forward in understanding how B cells encounter antigens, the co-stimulatory and cytokine requirements for their proliferation and differentiation, and how properties of the B cell receptor, the antigen, and helper T cells influence B cell responses. Many advances continue to transform the field including the impact of deep sequencing technologies on understanding B cell repertoires, the IgA-inducing microbiome, and the genetic defects in humans that compromise or exaggerate B cell responses or give rise to B cell malignancies.

Other advances that are providing insight include:

single-cell approaches to define B cell heterogeneity,
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new methods to study human B cell responses including CRISPR-based manipulation, and
the use of systems biology to study changes at the whole organism level.

With the recognition that B cells and antibodies are involved in most types of immune response and the realization that inflammatory processes contribute to a wider range of diseases than previously believed, including, for example, metabolic syndrome and neurodegeneration, it is expected that further

basic research-driven discovery about B cell biology will lead to more and improved approaches to maintain health and fight disease in the future.

References:

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(19)30278-8

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hon.2405

https://www.pnas.org/content/115/18/4743

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/all.12911

https://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/content/10/5/a028795

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0049017218304955

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CytoReason is re-defining the Context of the Immune System for Drug Discovery

Posted in Adaptive Immune Response to Biomaterials and Tissue Repair, BioTechnology - Venture Creation, Engineering Better T Cells, Immune Engineering, Immune Modulatory, Immunodiagnostics, Immunotherapy, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Protection Against Autoimmune Disease, Synergistic Innate and Adaptive Immunotherapy on May 21, 2019| Leave a Comment »

CytoReason is re-defining the Context of the Immune System for Drug Discovery

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

CytoReason is re-defining the context of the immune system at a cellular level in order to better understand disease and support more effective drug discovery and development.

Our leading-edge machine-learning driven approach identifies “cause and effect” of the gene/cell/cytokine relationships that lie at the heart of treating disease.

Faster and more accurately than ever before.

CytoReason’s mission is to simulate the cells that can stimulate discovery of:

New targets for treating disease

New insights to mechanism of actions (both of disease and drugs)

Differences in responses to both disease and treatment

Which diseases a drug can impact

We have developed a unique machine-learning driven approach to “seeing” the cells that can make the difference in patients seeing a better life.

The insights our approach generates, enable pharmaceutical and biotech companies to make the right decisions, at the right time, in the drug discovery and development programs that bring better therapies.

Based on cutting edge technologies, trained on data that would normally be impossible to access, and steered by leading biological and data science researchers, our approach is underpinned by three core principles:

SOURCE

https://www.cytoreason.com/

Press Release

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/216dd2_b715f2c29a8c496eb65315d332a7077e.pdf

Case Studies

Click one of the buttons below to view a short case study presention:

IBD: Anti-TNFα Pre-Treatment Response

Atopic Dermatitis: IL4 MoA

Melanoma: Target & Biomarker ID

Collaboration & Results

Working with leading global pharma and biotech companies and key research institutions, our results help guide R&D decision making.

Results

Our platform is tried and tested, producing real results with validation

•    Discovered: New cellular players in melanoma microenvironment

•   Discovered: New IL4 mechanism of action in atopic dermatitis

•   Discovered: Novel pre-treatment biomarkers in IBD anti-TNFα therapy

•   Discovered: 355 previously unreported cell/cytokine interactions (view infographic)

Publications

Science is the backbone of our methodologies and applications, and must stand the test of scientific scrutiny. To date we have 16 research papers published in top quality peer-reviewed scientific journals, including four in 2018 alone – 3 of which were published in journals from the Nature group

Click here to see our publications

SOURCE

https://www.cytoreason.com/

Shen-Orr told Forbes in an article published late last month that CytoReason’s tech is able to calculate immune age in one of two ways: “Via cell-subset composition nearest neighbor approach or based on a gene expression signature where the genes are predictive of the cell-subsets composition, and they test for their enrichment in the gene expression pattern of the sample. The immune profiles of individuals are used to predict immune changes based on a machine learning methodology deployed on data on a range of cell-subsets. ”

“The immune age is a biological clock that will help to identify, the decline and progress in immunity that occurs in old age, to determine preventive measures and develop new treatment modalities to minimize chronic disease and death,” he added.

CytoReason’s tech has so far yielded two pending patents, 10 commercial and scientific collaborations, and 16 peer-reviewed publications.

Harel says it was a combination of forces that made CytoReason’s immune-focused methodology work: Big Data, machine learning, and biology. He describes it as “the intersection of computer science and biology.”

SEE ALSO: The Future Of Medicine: Israeli Scientists Unveil New Tech To 3D-Print Personalized Drugs

Professor Magdassi tells NoCamels that with 3D printing of hydrogels, molecules that are soluble in water, scientists can improve the performance of the drug through its delivery. For example, “the hydrogel once ingested can be designed to swell, releasing two, or three, or four drugs at a time [or with a delay] or it can be designed not to swell, depending on what we are trying to achieve.”

“The drug can be tailored to the patient because of the unique shape or structure of the hydrogel and/or its release behavior,” Professor Magdassi explains.

Currently, there is one 3D-printed drug on the market. In 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Spritam, a 3D-printed powdered drug in pill form for the treatment of epileptic seizures, designed to dissolve faster than other pills.

SOURCE

http://nocamels.com/2018/11/future-medicine-israel-3d-print-personalized-drugs/

Quantifying The Age Of Our Immune System Could Bring Us Some Steps Closer To Precision Medicine

Yiannis Mouratidis

Contributor

Science

Last January, CytoReason announced an agreement with Pfizer, in which the latter will leverage the former’s technology to create cell-based models of the immune system. According to the agreement, CytoReason will receive an undisclosed amount in the low double-digit millions of U.S. dollars from Pfizer in access fees, research support and success-based payments. Prof. Shen-Orr concluded, “The immune age is a biological clock that will help to identify, the decline and progress in immunity that occurs in old age, to determine preventive measures and develop new treatment modalities to minimize chronic disease and death.”

SOURCE

https://www.forbes.com/sites/yiannismouratidis/2019/04/29/quantifying-the-age-of-our-immune-system-could-bring-us-some-steps-closer-to-precision-medicine/#15ef4e0628b3

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Gender affects the prevalence of the cancer type

Posted in Anti-tumor necrosis factor drugs (TNF inhibitors), Anticancer Resistance, BioIT: BioInformatics, NGS, Clinical & Translational, Pharmaceutical R&D Informatics, Clinical Genomics, Cancer Informatics, Breast Cancer - impalpable breast lesions, Cancer - General, Cancer and Current Therapeutics, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer Genomics, Cancer Informatics, cancer metabolism, Cancer Prevention: Research & Programs, Cancer Screening, Cancer Vaccines: Targeting Cancer Genes for Immunotherapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC), Efficacy of Anti-Tumor T Cells, Funding Opportunities for Cancer Research, Imaging-based Cancer Patient Management, Liquid Biopsy Chip detects an array of metastatic cancer cell markers in blood, Liquid Biopsy: Circulating Tumor Cells in Urine and Blood, Microbiome and Responses to Cancer Therapy, Modulating Macrophages in Cancer Immunotherapy, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Pancreatic cancer, Population Health Management, Population Health Management, Genetics & Pharmaceutical, Population Health Management, Nutrition and Phytochemistry, Precision Cancer Medicine, Prostate Cancer: Monitoring vs Treatment, RNA Biology, Cancer and Therapeutics, tumor microenvironment, tagged Cancer, DNA damage, DNA repair, gender, mutation, sex on April 2, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.

Gender of a person can affect the kinds of cancer-causing mutations they develop, according to a genomic analysis spanning nearly 2,000 tumours and 28 types of cancer. The results show striking differences in the cancer-causing mutations found in people who are biologically male versus those who are biologically female — not only in the number of mutations lurking in their tumours, but also in the kinds of mutations found there.

Liver tumours from women were more likely to carry mutations caused by a faulty system of DNA mending called mismatch repair, for instance. And men with any type of cancer were more likely to exhibit DNA changes thought to be linked to a process that the body uses to repair DNA with two broken strands. These biases could point researchers to key biological differences in how tumours develop and evolve across sexes.

The data add to a growing realization that sex is important in cancer, and not only because of lifestyle differences. Lung and liver cancer, for example, are more common in men than in women — even after researchers control for disparities in smoking or alcohol consumption. The source of that bias, however, has remained unclear.

In 2014, the US National Institutes of Health began encouraging researchers to consider sex differences in preclinical research by, for example, including female animals and cell lines from women in their studies. And some studies have since found sex-linked biases in the frequency of mutations in protein-coding genes in certain cancer types, including some brain cancers and advanced melanoma.

But the present study is the most comprehensive study of sex differences in tumour genomes so far. It looks at mutations not only in genes that code for proteins, but also in the vast expanses of DNA that have other functions, such as controlling when genes are turned on or off. The study also compares male and female genomes across many different cancers, which can allow researchers to pick up on additional patterns of DNA mutations, in part by increasing the sample sizes.

Researchers analysed full genome sequences gathered by the International Cancer Genome Consortium. They looked at differences in the frequency of 174 mutations known to drive cancer, and found that some of these mutations occurred more frequently in men than in women, and vice versa. When they looked more broadly at the loss or duplication of DNA segments in the genome, they found 4,285 sex-biased genes spread across 15 chromosomes.

There were also differences found when some mutations seemed to arise during tumour development, suggesting that some cancers follow different evolutionary paths in men and women. Researchers also looked at particular patterns of DNA changes. Such patterns can, in some cases, reflect the source of the mutation. Tobacco smoke, for example, leaves behind a particular signature in the DNA.

Taken together, the results highlight the importance of accounting for sex, not only in clinical trials but also in preclinical studies. This could eventually allow researchers to pin down the sources of many of the differences found in this study. Liver cancer is roughly three times as common in men as in women in some populations, and its incidence is increasing in some countries. A better understanding of its aetiology may turn out to be really important for prevention strategies and treatments.

References:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00562-7?utm_source=Nature+Briefing

https://www.nature.com/news/policy-nih-to-balance-sex-in-cell-and-animal-studies-1.15195

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26296643

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/507939v1

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25985759

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Immunoediting can be a constant defense in the cancer landscape

Posted in Anticancer Resistance, Apoptosis, BioIT: BioInformatics, NGS, Clinical & Translational, Pharmaceutical R&D Informatics, Clinical Genomics, Cancer Informatics, Breast Cancer - impalpable breast lesions, Cancer - General, Cancer and Current Therapeutics, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer Genomics, Cancer Informatics, cancer metabolism, Cancer Prevention: Research & Programs, Cancer Screening, Cancer Surgery of the Heart, Cancer Vaccines: Targeting Cancer Genes for Immunotherapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, Cell Biology, Cell Biology, Signaling & Cell Circuits, Cell death pathways, Cell Processing System in Cell Therapy Process Development, cell-based therapy, Childhood cancer, Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC), combination immunotherapies., Efficacy of Anti-Tumor T Cells, Engineering Better T Cells, Engineering Enhanced Cancer Vaccines, Funding Opportunities for Cancer Research, Human Immune System in Health and in Disease, Imaging-based Cancer Patient Management, Immune Modulatory, Immuno-Oncology & Genomics, Immunology, Immunotherapy, Infectious Disease Immunodiagnostics, Innovation in Immunology Diagnostics, Integrin-targeted Combination Immunotherapy, Liquid Biopsy Chip detects an array of metastatic cancer cell markers in blood, Liquid Biopsy: Circulating Tumor Cells in Urine and Blood, Metabolic Immuno-Oncology, Microbiome and Responses to Cancer Therapy, MicroEngineering Cell-Tissue & Systems, Modulating Macrophages in Cancer Immunotherapy, Monoclonal Immunotherapy, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Pancreatic cancer, Pharmacotherapy and Cell Activity, Population Health Management, Population Health Management, Genetics & Pharmaceutical, Population Health Management, Nutrition and Phytochemistry, Precision Cancer Medicine, Prostate Cancer: Monitoring vs Treatment, RNA Biology, Cancer and Therapeutics, Signaling & Cell Circuits, Single Cell Genomics, stem cell biology and patient-specific, Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine, Synergistic Innate and Adaptive Immunotherapy, Synthetic Immunology: Hacking Immune Cells, Universal Immune Cell Therapies (uICT), Voices of Patients and Healthcare Providers, tagged Cancer, cancer vaccine, DNA, HLA, immunoediting on March 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.

There are many considerations in the cancer immunoediting landscape of defense and regulation in the cancer hallmark biology. The cancer hallmark biology in concert with key controls of the HLA compatibility affinity mechanisms are pivotal in architecting a unique patient-centric therapeutic application. Selection of random immune products including neoantigens, antigens, antibodies and other vital immune elements creates a high level of uncertainty and risk of undesirable immune reactions. Immunoediting is a constant process. The human innate and adaptive forces can either trigger favorable or unfavorable immunoediting features. Cancer is a multi-disease entity. There are multi-factorial initiators in a certain disease process. Namely, environmental exposures, viral and / or microbiome exposure disequilibrium, direct harm to DNA, poor immune adaptability, inherent risk and an individual’s own vibration rhythm in life.

When a human single cell is crippled (Deranged DNA) with mixed up molecular behavior that is the initiator of the problem. A once normal cell now transitioned into full threatening molecular time bomb. In the modeling and creation of a tumor it all begins with the singular molecular crisis and crippling of a normal human cell. At this point it is either chop suey (mixed bit responses) or a productive defensive and regulation response and posture of the immune system. Mixed bits of normal DNA, cancer-laden DNA, circulating tumor DNA, circulating normal cells, circulating tumor cells, circulating immune defense cells, circulating immune inflammatory cells forming a moiety of normal and a moiety of mess. The challenge is to scavenge the mess and amplify the normal.

Immunoediting is a primary push-button feature that is definitely required to be hit when it comes to initiating immune defenses against cancer and an adaptation in favor of regression. As mentioned before that the tumor microenvironment is a “mixed bit” moiety, which includes elements of the immune system that can defend against circulating cancer cells and tumor growth. Personalized (Precision-Based) cancer vaccines must become the primary form of treatment in this case. Current treatment regimens in conventional therapy destroy immune defenses and regulation and create more serious complications observed in tumor progression, metastasis and survival. Commonly resistance to chemotherapeutic agents is observed. These personalized treatments will be developed in concert with cancer hallmark analytics and immunocentrics affinity and selection mapping. This mapping will demonstrate molecular pathway interface and HLA compatibility and adaptation with patientcentricity.

References:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/immunoediting-cancer-landscape-john-catanzaro/

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(16)31609-9

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309432057_Circulating_tumor_cell_clusters_What_we_know_and_what_we_expect_Review

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4190561/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5840207/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5593672/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00414/full

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5593672/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4190561/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4388310/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cancer-hallmark-analytics-omics-data-pathway-studio-review-catanzaro/

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Immunotherapy may help in glioblastoma survival

Posted in Anticancer Resistance, BioIT: BioInformatics, NGS, Clinical & Translational, Pharmaceutical R&D Informatics, Clinical Genomics, Cancer Informatics, Breast Cancer - impalpable breast lesions, Cancer - General, Cancer and Current Therapeutics, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer Genomics, Cancer Informatics, cancer metabolism, Cancer Prevention: Research & Programs, Cancer Screening, Cancer Vaccines: Targeting Cancer Genes for Immunotherapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, Cell Biology, Childhood cancer, CNS-Immune Interface, combination immunotherapies., Efficacy of Anti-Tumor T Cells, Engineering Better T Cells, Glioblastoma, Imaging-based Cancer Patient Management, Immune Engineering, Immune Modulatory, Immuno-Oncology & Genomics, Immunodiagnostics, Immunology, Immunotherapy, Inflammasome, Innovation in Immunology Diagnostics, Integrin-targeted Combination Immunotherapy, Liquid Biopsy Chip detects an array of metastatic cancer cell markers in blood, Metabolic Immuno-Oncology, Metastasis Process, Modulating Macrophages in Cancer Immunotherapy, Monoclonal Immunotherapy, Neuronal Circuits, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Pancreatic cancer, Population genetics, Population Health Management, Population Health Management, Genetics & Pharmaceutical, Precision Cancer Medicine, Prostate Cancer: Monitoring vs Treatment, RNA Biology, Cancer and Therapeutics, Synergistic Innate and Adaptive Immunotherapy, Synthetic Immunology: Hacking Immune Cells, Universal Immune Cell Therapies (uICT), tagged Cancer, Glioblastoma, Immunotherapy, pembrolizumab, survival, Therapy on March 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Reporter and Curator: Dr. Sudipta Saha, Ph.D.

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults and is associated with poor survival. But, in a glimmer of hope, a recent study found that a drug designed to unleash the immune system helped some patients live longer. Glioblastoma powerfully suppresses the immune system, both at the site of the cancer and throughout the body, which has made it difficult to find effective treatments. Such tumors are complex and differ widely in their behavior and characteristics.

A small randomized, multi-institution clinical trial was conducted and led by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles involved patients who had a recurrence of glioblastoma, the most common central nervous system cancer. The aim was to evaluate immune responses and survival following neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant therapy with pembrolizumab (checkpoint inhibitor) in 35 patients with recurrent, surgically resectable glioblastoma. Patients who were randomized to receive neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, with continued adjuvant therapy following surgery, had significantly extended overall survival compared to patients that were randomized to receive adjuvant, post-surgical programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade alone.

Neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade was associated with upregulation of T cell– and interferon-γ-related gene expression, but downregulation of cell-cycle-related gene expression within the tumor, which was not seen in patients that received adjuvant therapy alone. Focal induction of programmed death-ligand 1 in the tumor microenvironment, enhanced clonal expansion of T cells, decreased PD-1 expression on peripheral blood T cells and a decreasing monocytic population was observed more frequently in the neoadjuvant group than in patients treated only in the adjuvant setting. These findings suggest that the neoadjuvant administration of PD-1 blockade enhanced both the local and systemic antitumor immune response and may represent a more efficacious approach to the treatment of this uniformly lethal brain tumor.

Immunotherapy has not proved to be effective against glioblastoma. This small clinical trial explored the effect of PD-1 blockade on recurrent glioblastoma in relation to the timing of administration. A total of 35 patients undergoing resection of recurrent disease were randomized to either neoadjuvant or adjuvant pembrolizumab, and surgical specimens were compared between the two groups. Interestingly, the tumoral gene expression signature varied between the two groups, such that those who received neoadjuvant pembrolizumab displayed an INF-γ gene signature suggestive of T-cell activation as well as suppression of cell-cycle signaling, possibly consistent with growth arrest. Although the study was not powered for efficacy, the group found an increase in overall survival in patients receiving neoadjuvant pembrolizumab compared with adjuvant pembrolizumab of 13.7 months versus 7.5 months, respectively.

In this small pilot study, neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade followed by surgical resection was associated with intratumoral T-cell activation and inhibition of tumor growth as well as longer survival. How the drug works in glioblastoma has not been totally established. The researchers speculated that giving the drug before surgery prompted T-cells within the tumor, which had been impaired, to attack the cancer and extend lives. The drug didn’t spur such anti-cancer activity after the surgery because those T-cells were removed along with the tumor. The results are very important and very promising but would need to be validated in much larger trials.

References:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/02/11/immunotherapy-may-help-patients-with-kind-cancer-that-killed-john-mccain/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.e1b2e6fffccc

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30742122

https://www.practiceupdate.com/content/neoadjuvant-anti-pd-1-immunotherapy-promotes-immune-responses-in-recurrent-gbm/79742/37/12/1

https://www.esmo.org/Oncology-News/Neoadjuvant-PD-1-Blockade-in-Glioblastoma

https://neurosciencenews.com/immunotherapy-glioblastoma-cancer-10722/

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TWEETS by @pharma_BI and @AVIVA1950 at #IESYMPOSIUM – @kochinstitute 2019 #Immune #Engineering #Symposium, 1/28/2019 – 1/29/2019

Posted in Adaptive Immune Response to Biomaterials and Tissue Repair, Antibody Responses Predict Antigen Exposure, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, CAR-T, combination immunotherapies., Conference Coverage with Social Media, CRISPR/Cas9 & Gene Editing, Cytokine Receptor Structure, Efficacy of Anti-Tumor T Cells, Engineering Better T Cells, Human Antibody Response, Human Circulating Antibody Repertoire, Human Naive B Cell Repertoire, Immune Engineering, Immune Modulatory, Immuno-Oncology & Genomics, Immunodiagnostics, Immunology, Immunotherapy, Integrin-targeted Combination Immunotherapy, MHC Repertoires for Antigen Prediction, Modulating Macrophages in Cancer Immunotherapy, mRNA platform in Drug DIscovery, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Protection Against Autoimmune Disease, Synergistic Innate and Adaptive Immunotherapy, Synthetic Immunology: Hacking Immune Cells on January 31, 2019| Leave a Comment »

TWEETS by @pharma_BI and @AVIVA1950 at #IESYMPOSIUM – @kochinstitute 2019 #Immune #Engineering #Symposium, 1/28/2019 – 1/29/2019

Real Time Press Coverage: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

2.1.3.4 TWEETS by @pharma_BI and @AVIVA1950 at #IESYMPOSIUM – @kochinstitute 2019 #Immune #Engineering #Symposium, 1/28/2019 – 1/29/2019, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 2: CRISPR for Gene Editing and DNA Repair

eProceedings for Day 1 and Day 2

LIVE Day One – Koch Institute 2019 Immune Engineering Symposium, January 28, 2019, Kresge Auditorium, MIT

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2019/01/28/live-day-one-koch-institute-2019-immune-engineering-symposium-january-28-2019-kresge-auditorium-mit/

LIVE Day Two – Koch Institute 2019 Immune Engineering Symposium, January 29, 2019, Kresge Auditorium, MIT

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2019/01/29/live-day-two-koch-institute-2019-immune-engineering-symposium-january-29-2019-kresge-auditorium-mit/

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AMAZING Conference I covered in Real Time #Immune #Engineering
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AMAZING Conference I covered in Real Time

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LIVE Day One – e-Proceedings #IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 @KochInstitute 2019 #Immune #Engineering #Symposium, January 28, 2019, Kresge Auditorium, MIT https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2019/01/28/live-day-one-koch-institute-2019-immune-engineering-symposium-january-28-2019-kresge-auditorium-mit/ … via @Pharma_BI

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LIVE Day Two – Koch Institute 2019 Immune Engineering Symposium, January 29, 2019, Kresge Auditorium, MIT http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2019/01/29/live-day-two-koch-institute-2019-immune-engineering-symposium-january-29-2019-kresge-auditorium-mit/ …

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Aviv Regev @kochinstitute Melanoma: malignant cells with resistance in cold niches in situ cells express the resistance program pre-treatment: resistance UP – cold Predict checkpoint immunotherapy outcomes CDK4/6 abemaciclib in cell lines
Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 7 hours ago

#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Aviv Regev, @broadinstitute @kochinstitute #Cell #atlases a #Cancer cell-cell interactions from variations across individuals Most UC-risk genes are cell type specificVariation – epithelial cell signature – organize US GWAS into cell type spec
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Diane Mathis @HMS Age-dependent Treg and mSC changes – Linear with increase in age Sex-dependent Treg and mSC changes – Female Treg loss in cases of Obesity leading to fibrosis Treg keep IL-33-Producing mSCs under rein Lean tissue/Obese tissue
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Martin LaFleur @HMS Loss of Ptpn2 enhances CD8+ T cell responses to LCMV and Tumors PTpn2 deletion in the immune system enhanced tumor immunity CHIME enables in vivo screening
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Alex Shalek @MIT @kochinstitute Identifying and rationally modulating cellular drivers of enhanced immunity T Cells, Clusters Expression of Peak and Memory Immunotherapy- Identifying Dendritic cells enhanced in HIV-1 Elite Controllers
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timisstuck‏ @timisstuck 12 hours ago

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Onward: our own Michael Birnbaum, who assures us that if you feel like you’re an immunoengineer, then you ARE one! @kochinstitute

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Glenn Dranoff @Novartis Adenosine level in blood or tissue very difficult to measure in blood even more than in tissue – NIR178 + PDR 001 Monotherapy (NIR178) combine with PD receptor blockage (PDR) show benefit A alone vs A+B in Clinical trial
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Glenn Dranoff @Novartis PD-L1 blockade elicits responses in some patients: soft part sarcoma LAG-3 combined with PD-1 – human peripheral blood tumor TIM-3 key regulator of T cell and Myeloid cell function: correlates in the TCGA DB myeloid
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Glenn Dranoff @Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research #Mechnism of #protective #tumor #immunity Neurologic toxicities of CART t IL-6 activation AML – complete response – weekly dose of XmAb CD123X CD3 bispecific antibody anti tumor effect
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 @michaelbirnbaum @MIT @kochinstitute #repertoire of protective #tumor #immunity HLA-DR4 effects outside of “peptide anchor” residues Class I MHC – HLA-E down regulate T and NK cells Receptor Binding: Positional preferences noted for NKG2A
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Yvonne Chen @UCLA Activation of t Cell use CAR t Engineer CAR-T to respond to soluble form of antigens: CD19 CAR Responds to soluble CD19 GFP MCAR responds to Dimeric GFP “Tumor microenvironment is a scary place”
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Yvonne Chen @UCLA Do we need a ligand to be a dimers? Co-expressed second-generation TGF-beta signaling
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Yvonne Chen @UCLA “Engineering smarter and stronger T cells for cancer immunotherapy” OR-Gate cause no relapse – Probing limits of modularity in CAR Design Bispecific CARs are superior to DualCAR: One vs DualCAR (some remained single CAR)
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timisstuck‏ @timisstuck Jan 28

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Ending the 1st session is Cathy Wu of @DanaFarber detailing some amazing work on vaccination strategies for melanoma and glioblastoma patients. They use long peptides engineered from tumor sequencing data. #iesymposium

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timisstuck‏ @timisstuck Jan 28

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Some fancy imaging: Duggan gives a nice demo of how dSTORM imaging works using a micropatterend image of Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology! yay! #iesymposium

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Joseph Palmeri‏ @josephrpalmeri Jan 28

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Lots of interesting talks in the second session of the #iesymposium – effects of lymphoangiogenesis on anti-tumor immune responses, nanoparticle based strategies to improve bNAbs titers/affinity for HIV therapy, and IAPi cancer immunotherapy

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Looking forward to another day of the #iesymposium. One more highlight from yesterday – @nm0min from our own lab showcased her work developing cytokine fusions that bind to collagen, boosting efficacy while drastically reducing toxicities

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Intellia Therapeutics‏ @intelliatweets Jan 28

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Members of our cell therapy team were down the street today at neighboring @MIT for the #iesymposium presented by @kochinstitute. #CRISPR #genomeediting

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John Doench‏ @JohnDoench Jan 28

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Replying to @AEDeconinck @kochinstitute

He could have fooled me that he is, in fact, an immunologist!

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I absolutely LOVE this essay. “Why geneticists stole cancer research even though cancer is primarily a signaling disease”

https://twitter.com/i/cards/tfw/v1/1087802072144273408?cardname=summary&autoplay_disabled=true&forward=true&earned=true&edge=true&lang=en&card_height=130&scribe_context=%7B%22client%22%3A%22web%22%2C%22page%22%3A%22me%22%2C%22section%22%3A%22profile%22%2C%22component%22%3A%22tweet%22%7D&bearer_token=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPYXBAAAAAAACLXUNDekMxqa8h%252F40K4moUkGsoc%253DTYfbDKbT3jJPCEVnMYqilB28NHfOPqkca3qaAxGfsyKCs0wRbw#xdm_e=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com&xdm_c=default1249&xdm_p=1

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Come and say Hi! ACIR will be back tomorrow at the Immune Engineering Symposium at MIT. Learn more at http://ow.ly/gk9430ns0QX . #iesymposium @kochinstitute. And stay tuned to read our summary of the talks on Feb 6. #subscribe #newsletter #IO #free

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Facundo Batista @MGH #Vaccine ##evaluation in #humanized #mousemodels BG18 Germline Heavy CHain (BG18-gH) High-mannose patch – mice exhibit normal B cell development B cells from naive human germline BG18-gH bind to GT2 immunogen
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Preeti Sharma, U Illinois T cell receptor and CAR-T engineering TCR engineering for Targeting glycosylated cancer antigens Nornal glycosylation vs Aberrant Engineering 237-CARs libraries with conjugated (Tn-OTS8) against Tn-antigend In vitro
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Bryan Bryson @MIT Loss of polarization potential: scRNAseq reveals transcriptional differences Thioredoxin facilitates immune response to Mtb is a marker of an inflammatory macrophage state functional spectrum of human microphages
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Bryan Bryson @MIT macrophage axis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Building “libraries” – surface marker analysis of Microphages Polarized macrophages are functionally different quant and qual differences History of GM-CSF suppresses IL-10
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Jamie Spangler John Hopkins University “Reprogramming anti-cancer immunity RESPONSE through molecular engineering” De novo IL-2 potetiator in therapeutic superior to the natural cytokine by molecular engineering mimicking other cytokines
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Jamie Spangler @JHU JES6-1 Immunocytokine – inhibiting melanoma Engineering a Treg cell-biased immunocytokine double mutant immunocytokine shows enhanced IL-2Ralpha exchange Affinity De Novo design of a hyper-stable, effector biased IL-2
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#Cardiovascular #Diseases, Volume Six: #Interventional #Cardiology for #disease #diagnosis and #Cardiac #Surgery for #Condition #Treatment. On com since 12/24/2018 https://lnkd.in/e_CTb4R @Pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

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#Cardiovascular #Diseases, Volume Five: #PharmacologicalAgents in #Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases. On com since 12/23/2018 https://lnkd.in/e3r87cQ @Pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

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#Cardiovascular #Diseases, Volume Four: #Regenerative and #Translational #medicine : The #Therapeutics #Promise for Cardiovascular Diseases. On com since 12/26/2015 https://lnkd.in/dwqM3K3 @Pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

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#Cardiovascular #Diseases, Volume Three: #Etiologies of #Cardiovascular Diseases: #Epigenetics, #Genetics and #Genomics. On com since 11/29/2015 https://lnkd.in/ecp5mrA @Pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

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#Cardiovascular #Diseases, Volume Two: Cardiovascular #Original #Research: Cases in #Methodology Design for #Content Co-Curation. On com since 11/30/2015 https://lnkd.in/ekbuNZ3 @Pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

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#Cardiovascular #Diseases, Volume One: #Perspectives on #Nitric #Oxide in #Disease #Mechanisms. On com since 6/21/2013 https://lnkd.in/8DANfq @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 eProceeding LIVE Day One @KochInstitute @MIT 2019 #Immune #Engineering #Symposium, January 28, 2019, Kresge Auditorium, MIT https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2019/01/28/live-day-one-koch-institute-2019-immune-engineering-symposium-january-28-2019-kresge-auditorium-mit/ … via @Pharma_BI

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Michael Dustin @UniofOxford ESCRT pathway associated with synaptic ectosomes Locatization, Microscopy Cytotoxic T cell granules CTLs release extracellular vescicles similar to T Helper with perforin and granzyme – CTL vesicles kill targets

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Michael Dustin @Oxford Delivery of T cell Effector function through extracellular vesicles Synaptic ectosome biogenisis Model: T cells: DOpamine cascade in germinal cell delivered to synaptic cleft – Effector CD40 – Transfer is cooperative
Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 Jan 28

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Michael Dustin @Oxford Delivery of T cell Effector function through extracellular vesicles Laterally mobile ligands track receptor interaction ICAM-1 Signaling of synapse – Sustain signaling by transient in microclusters TCR related Invadipodia
Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 Jan 28

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Mikael Pittet @MGH Myeloid Cells in Cancer Indirect mechanism AFTER a-PD-1 Treatment IFN-gamma Sensing Fosters IL-12 & therapeutic Responses aPD-1-Mediated Activation of Tumor Immunity – Direct activation and the ‘Licensing’ Model

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Stefani Spranger @MIT KI Response to checkpoint blockade Non-T cell-inflamed – is LACK OF T CELL INFILTRATION Tumor CD103 dendritic cells – Tumor-residing Batf3-drivenCD103 Tumor-intrinsic Beta-catenin mediates lack of T cell infiltration

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Max Krummel @UCSF Gene expression association between two genes: #NK and #cDC1 numbers are tightly linked to response to checkpoint blockage IMMUNE “ACCOMODATION” ARCHYTYPES: MYELOID TUNING OF ARCHITYPES Myeloid function and composition
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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Noor Momin, MIT Lumican-cytokines improve control of distant lesions – Lumican-fusion potentiates systemic anti-tumor immunity

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Noor Momin, MIT Lumican fusion to IL-2 improves treatment efficacy reduce toxicity – Anti-TAA mAb – TA99 vs IL-2 Best efficacy and least toxicity in Lumican-MSA-IL-2 vs MSA-IL2 Lumican synergy with CAR-T

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April Pawluk‏ @AprilPawluk Jan 27

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excited to attend the @kochinstitute @MIT immune engineering symposium #iesymposium this week! find me there to chat about @CellCellPress and whether your paper could be a good fit for us!

Koch Institute at MITVerified account @kochinstitute

Join leading immunology researchers at our Immune Engineering Symposium on Jan. 28 & 29. Register now: http://bit.ly/2AOUWH6 #iesymposium

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Dr. Jennifer Gori‏ @gori_jennifer Jan 28

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Bob Schreiber and Tyler Jacks kicked off the #iesymposium with 2 great talks on the role of Class I and Class II neo-Ag in tumor immunogenicity and how the tumor microenvironment alters T cell responsiveness to tumors in vivo

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Joseph Palmeri‏ @josephrpalmeri Jan 28

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Scott Wilson from @UChicago gave a fantastic talk on glycopolymer conjugation to antigens to improve trafficking to HAPCs and enhanced tolerization in autoimmunity models. Excited to learn more about his work at his @MITChemE faculty talk! #iesymposium

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AMAZING Symposinm @AVIVA1950 @Pharma_BI

Erika Siren @SirenErika

Spending the (literal) first day of my fellowship at the @kochinstitute #iesymposium! @DanaFarber Cathy Wu talking about the use of neoantigen targeting cancer vaccines for the treatment of ‘cold’ glioblastoma tumors in pts

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Ajay Vishwakarma‏ @VishwakarmaAj Jan 28

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Immune Engineering Symposium at MIT is underway! #iesymposium @kochinstitute

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ACIR.org‏ @ACIR_org Jan 25

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ACIR is excited to be covering the Immune Engineering Symposium at MIT on January 28-29. Learn more at http://ow.ly/gk9430ns0QX . #iesymposium @kochinstitute

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Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 Jan 28

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Tyler Jacks talk was outstanding, Needs be delivered A@TED TALKs, needs become contents in the curriculum of Cell Biology graduate seminar as an Online class. BRAVO @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

Anne E Deconinck @AEDeconinck

My boss, @kochinstitute director Tyler Jacks, presenting beautiful, unpublished work at our 3rd #iesymposium.

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timisstuck‏ @timisstuck Jan 28

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Here we go!! Today and tomorrow the tippity top immunologists converge at @MIT @kochinstitute #iesymposium

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Joseph Palmeri‏ @josephrpalmeri Jan 28

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Exciting start to this year’s Immune Engineering Symposium put on by @kochinstitute at @MIT. A few highlights from the first section… #iesymposium

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Stephanie Dougan (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) Dept. Virology IAPi outperforms checkpoint blockade in T cell cold tumors reduction of tumor burden gencitabine cross-presenting DCs and CD8 T cells – T cell low 6694c2

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Darrell Irvine (MIT, Koch Institute; HHMI) Engineering follicle delivery through synthetic glycans: eOD-60mer nanoparticles vs Ferritin-trimer 8-mer (density dependent)
Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 Jan 28

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Darrell Irvine (MIT, Koch Institute; HHMI) GC targeting is dependent on complement component CIQ – activation: Mannose-binding lectins recognize eOD-60mer but not eOD monomer or trimers

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Melody Swartz (University of Chicago) Lymphangiogenesis attractive to Native T cells, in VEGF-C tumors T cell homing inhibitors vs block T cell egress inhibitors – Immunotherapy induces T cell killing
Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 Jan 28

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Paradigm shift #antigens vs #neoantigens #IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Cathy Wu @MGH breakthrough for Brain Tumor #vaccine based neoantigen-specific T cell at intracranial site Single cells brain tissue vs single cells from neoantigen specific T cells – intratumoral neoantigen-specific T cells: mutARGAP35-spacific

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Cathy Wu (Massachusetts General Hospital) – CoFounder of NEON Enduring complete radiographic responses after #Neovax + alpha-PD-1 treatment (anti-PD-1) NeoVax vs IVAC Mutanome for melanoma and Glioblastoma clinical trials

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 @ScottWilson, U of Chicago IV INJECTION: OVAALBUMIN OVA-P(GALINAC), P(GLCNAC), SUPRESS T CELL RESPONSE #Glycoconjucates Abate T cells response – Reduced cytokine production & increased #T-regs
Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 Jan 28

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 @TylerJacks @MIT Interrogating markers of T cell dysfunction – chance biology of cells by CRISPR – EGR2 at 2 weeks dysfuntioning is reduced presence of EDR2 mutant class plays role in cell metabolism cell becomes functional regulator CD8 T cell
Aviva Lev-Ari‏ @AVIVA1950 Jan 28

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#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950 Bob Schreiber (Wash University of St. Louis) Optimal CD8+ T cells mediated #immuneresponses to T3 #sarcomas require CD4+ T #cell help

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LIVE Day Two – Koch Institute 2019 Immune Engineering Symposium, January 29, 2019, Kresge Auditorium, MIT

Posted in Adaptive Immune Response to Biomaterials and Tissue Repair, Antibody Responses Predict Antigen Exposure, CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, Conference Coverage with Social Media, Cytokine Receptor Structure, Efficacy of Anti-Tumor T Cells, Engineering Better T Cells, Human Antibody Response, Human Circulating Antibody Repertoire, Human Naive B Cell Repertoire, Immune Engineering, Immune Modulatory, Immuno-Oncology & Genomics, Immunodiagnostics, Immunology, Immunotherapy, MHC Repertoires for Antigen Prediction, Modulating Macrophages in Cancer Immunotherapy, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Protection Against Autoimmune Disease, Synergistic Innate and Adaptive Immunotherapy, Synthetic Immunology: Hacking Immune Cells on January 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »

LIVE Day Two – Koch Institute 2019 Immune Engineering Symposium, January 29, 2019, Kresge Auditorium, MIT

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Real Time Press Coverage: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

Confirmation Number: PVNYDMS4FND
Pamela Difraia pdifraia@mit.edu

#IESYMPOSIUM @pharma_BI @AVIVA1950

MISSION The mission of the Koch Institute (KI) is to apply the tools of science and technology to improve the way cancer is detected, monitored, treated and prevented.

APPROACH We bring together scientists and engineers – in collaboration with clinicians and industry partners – to solve the most intractable problems in cancer. Leveraging MIT’s strengths in technology, the life sciences and interdisciplinary research, the KI is pursuing scientific excellence while also directly promoting innovative ways to diagnose, monitor, and treat cancer through advanced technology.

HISTORY The Koch Institute facility was made possible through a $100 million gift from MIT alumnus David H. Koch. Our new building opened in March 2011, coinciding with MIT’s 150th anniversary. Our community has grown out of the MIT Center for Cancer Research (CCR), which was founded in 1974 by Nobel Laureate and MIT Professor Salvador Luria, and is one of seven National Cancer Institute-designated basic (non-clinical) research centers in the U.S.

https://ki.mit.edu/files/ki/cfile/news/presskit/KI_Fact_Sheet_-_February_2018.pdf

January 28-29, 2019
Kresge Auditorium, MIT

Biological, chemical, and materials engineers are engaged at the forefront of immunology research. At their disposal is an analytical toolkit honed to solve problems in the petrochemical and materials industries, which share the presence of complex reaction networks, and convective and diffusive molecular transport. Powerful synthetic capabilities have also been crafted: binding proteins can be engineered with effectively arbitrary specificity and affinity, and multifunctional nanoparticles and gels have been designed to interact in highly specific fashions with cells and tissues. Fearless pursuit of knowledge and solutions across disciplinary boundaries characterizes this nascent discipline of immune engineering, synergizing with immunologists and clinicians to put immunotherapy into practice.

The 2019 symposium will include two poster sessions and four abstract-selected talks. Abstracts should be uploaded on the registration page. Abstract submission deadline is November 15, 2018. Registration closes December 14.

Featuring on Day 2, 1/29, 2019:

Session IV

Moderator: Michael Birnbaum, Koch Institute, MIT

Jamie Spangler (John Hopkins University)

“Reprogramming anti-cancer immunity through molecular engineering”

Reprogramming anti-cancer immunity response through molecular engineering”
Cytokines induce receptor dimerization
Clinical Use of cytokines: Pleiotropy, expression and stability isssues
poor pharmacological properties
cytokine therapy: New de novo protein using computational methods
IL-2 signals through a dimeric nad a trimeric receptor complex
IL-2 pleiotropy hinders its therapeutic efficacy
IL-2 activate immunosuppression
potentiation of cytokine activity by anti-IL-2 antibody selectivity
Cytokine binding – Antibodies compete with IL-2 receptor subunits
IL-2Ralpha, IL-2 Rbeta: S4B6 mimickry of alpha allosterically enhances beta
stimulates both Effectors and T-regs
JES6-1 immunocomplex selectively stimulates IL-2Ralpha cells
Engineering translational single-chain cytokine/antibody fusion
Engineering an EFFECTOR cell-based immunocytokine (602)
JES6-1 Immunocytokine – inhibiting melanoma
Engineering a Treg cell-biased immunocytokine
double mutant immunocytokine shows enhanced IL-2Ralpha exchange
Affinity – molecular eng De Novo design of a hyper-stable, effector biased IL-2
De novo IL-2 poteniator in therapeutic superior to the natural cytokine by molecular engineering

Bryan Bryson (MIT, Department of Biological Engineering)

“Exploiting the macrophage axis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection”

TB – who develop Active and why?
Immunological life cycle of Mtb
Global disease Mtb infection outcome varies within individual host
lesion are found by single bacteria
What are the cellular players in immune success
MACROPHAGES – molecular signals enhancing Mtb control of macrophages
modeling the host- macrophages are plastic and polarize
Building “libraries” – surface marker analysis of Microphages
Polarized macrophages are functionally different
quant and qual differences
History of GM-CSF suppresses IL-10
Loss of polarization potential: scRNAseq reveals transcriptional differences Thioredoxin facilitates immune response to Mtb is a marker of an inflammatory macrophage state
functional spectrum of human microphages

Facundo Batista (Ragon Institute (HIV Research) @MGH, MIT and Harvard)

“Vaccine evaluation in rapidly produced custom humanized mouse models”

Effective B cell activation requires 2 signals Antigen and binding to T cell
VDJ UCA (Unmutated common Ancestor)
B Cell Receptor (BCR) co-receptors and cytoskeleton
44% in Women age 24-44
Prototype HIV broadly neutralizing Antibodies (bnAb) do not bind to Env protein – Immunogen design and validation
Target Identification –>> Immunogen Design –>>> Immunogen Validation
Human Ig Knock-ins [Light variable 5′ chain length vs 7′ length] decisive to inform immunogenicity – One-Step CRISPR approach does not require ES cell work
Proof of principle with BG18 Germline Heavy Chain (BG18-gH) High-mannose patch – mice exhibit normal B cell development
B cells from naive human germline BG18-gH bind to GT2 immunogen
GT2-nanoparticle 9NP) induces robust BG18-gH-500 cells: CD45.2 GL7 IgD
Interrogate immune response for HIV, Malaria, Zika, Flu

Session V

Moderator: Dane Wittrup, Koch Institute, MIT

Yvonne Chen (University of California, Los Angeles)

“Engineering smarter and stronger T cells for cancer immunotherapy”

Adoptive T-Cell Therapy
Tx for Leukemia – Tumor Antigen escape fro CAR T-cell therapy, CD19/CD20 OR-Gate CARs for prevention of antigen escape – 15 month of development
reduce probability of antigen escape due to two antigen CD19/CD20: Probing limits of modularity in CAR design
In vivo model: 75% wild type & 25% CD19 – relapse occur in the long term, early vs late vs no relapse: Tx with CAR t had no relapse
OR-Gate cause no relapse – Probing limits of modularity in CAR Design
Bispecific CARs are superior to DualCAR: One vs DualCAR (some remained single CAR)
Bispecific CARs exhibit superior antigen-stimulation capacity – OR-Gate CAR Outperforms Single-Input CARs
Lymphoma and Leukemia are 10% of all Cancers
TGF-gamma Rewiring T Cell Response
Activation of t Cell use CAR t
Engineer CAR-T to respond to soluble form of antigens: CD19 CAR Responds to soluble CD19
GFP MCAR responds to Dimeric GFP
“Tumor microenvironment is a scary place”

Michael Birnbaum, MIT, Koch Institute

“A repertoire of protective tumor immunity”

Decoding T and NK cell recognition – understanding immune recognition and signaling function for reprogramming the Immune system – Neoantigen vaccine pipeline
Personal neoantigen vax improve immunotherapy
CLASS I and CLASS II epitomes: MHC prediction performance – more accurate for CLASS I HLA polymorphisms
Immune Epitope DB and Analysis Resources 448,630 Peptide Epitomes
B cell assay: 413,000
T cell assays: 313,000
peptide sequence relationships – naturally occurring antigen predictions
Cleavable pMHC yeast display to determine peptide loading
HLA-DR4 libraries enrich a large collection of peptides: 96000 1/5 of entire peptide DB: Enriched motif, prediction algorithms
Algorithmic false negatives vs peptide concentration(nM)
HLA-DR4 effects outside of “peptide anchor” residues
Class I MHC – HLA-E down regulate T and NK cells
Receptor Binding: Positional preferences noted for NKG2A
Training data vs Algorithmic approach
Globally oriented –
TCR sequencing – TCR pairings – Multicell-per-well sequencing
MAD-HYPE algorithm

Glenn Dranoff, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research

“Mechnism of protective tumor immunity”

Immune checkpoint blockade elicit 10 years survival in melanoma
PD-1 blockage esophageal carcinoma effective showing survival
renal cells, bladder
20% benefit from Immuno therapy – CTLA-4 toxicity is high small % patient benefit
PD-1/PD-L1 anti CLTA-4 mAbs
solid tumors challenging
Requirement for effective IO – Tumor receptivity to immune infiltration
modulation
Novartis IO in the clinic: multiple tumor immune escape – complexity
Approach: focus trials aimed to learn immune response complementation groups manipulate into response
work with Engineering for delivery nimble to generate new data
Translational research in the clinic
CAR T cells
B cell malignancies are ideal targets for CAR T cells
Relapsed/Refractory – pediatric ALL refractory advanced to no relapse – complete response 80% – 6 years response
Antigen loss CD19 – targeting with combinatorial approach to avoid relapse
Large B cell lymphoma
Neurologic toxicities of CART t IL-6 activation
AML – complete response – weekly dose of XmAb CD123X CD3 bispecific antibody – protein engineering – anti tumor effect in refractory Leukemia
anaplastic thyroid carcinoma
PD-L1 blockade elicits responses in some patients: soft part sarcoma
LAG-3 combined with PD-1 – human peripheral blood tumor
TIM-3 key regulator of T cell and Myeloid cell function: correlates in the TCGA DB with myeloid
Adenosine level in blood or tissue very difficult to measure in blood even more than in tissue – NIR178 + PDR 001 Mono-therapy (NIR178) combine with PD receptor blockage (PDR) – shows benefit
A alone vs A+B in Clinical trial

Session VI

Moderator: Stefani Spranger, Koch Institute, MIT

Tim Springer, Boston Children’s Hospital, HMS

The Milieu Model for TGF-Betta Activation”

Protein Science – Genomics with Protein
Antibody Initiative – new type of antibodies not a monoclonal antibody – a different type
Pro TGF-beta
TGF-beta – not a typical cytokine it is a prodamine for Mature growth factor — 33 genes mono and heterogeneous dimers
Latent TGF-Beta1 crystal structure: prodomaine shields the Growth Factor
Mechanism od activation of pro-TGF-beta – integrin alphaVBeta 6: pro-beta1:2
Simulation in vivo: actin cytoskeleton cytoplasmic domain
LIFE CYCLE OF PROTGF-BETA
LRRC33 – GARP class relative
microglia and macrophage – link TGF-beta phenotype knock outs
TGF compartments of microglia separated myelination loss
Inhibition of TGF-beta enhances immune checkpoint
Loss of LRRC33-dependent TGF-beta signaling would counteract immune suppression in tumor and in slow tumor growth
lung metastasis of B16 in melanoma
immuno-histo-chemistry: LRRC33 tumor-associated myeloid cell lack cell surface proTGF-beta1
blocking antibodies LRRC33 mitigate toxicity on PD-L1 treatment

Alex Shalek, MIT, Department of Chemistry, Koch Institute

“Identifying and rationally modulating cellular drivers of enhanced immunity”

Balance in the Immune system
Profiling Granulomas using Seq-Well 2.0
lung tissue in South Africa of TB patients
Granulomas, linking cell type abundance with burden
Exploring T cells Phenotypes
Cytotoxic & Effector ST@+ Regulatory
Vaccine against TB – 19% effective, only 0 IV BCG vaccination can elicit sterilizing Immunity
Profiling cellular response to vaccination
T cell gene modules across vaccine routes
T Cells, Clusters
Expression of Peak and Memory
Immunotherapy- Identifying Dendritic cells enhanced in HIV-1 Elite Controllers
moving from Observing to Engineering
Cellular signature: NK-kB Signaling
Identifying and testing Cellular Correlates of TB Protection
Beyond Biology: Translation research: Data sets: dosen

Session VII

Moderator: Stefani Spranger, Koch Institute, MIT

Diane Mathis, Harvard Medical School

“Tissue T-regs”

T reg populations in Lymphoid Non–lymphoid Tissues
2009 – Treg tissue homeostasis status – sensitivity to insulin, 5-15% CD4+ T compartment
transcriptome
expanded repertoires TCRs
viceral adipose tissue (VAT) – Insulin
Dependencies: Taget IL-33 its I/1r/1 – encoded Receptor ST2
VAT up-regulate I/1r/1:ST2 Signaling
IL-33 – CD45 negative CD31 negative
mSC Production of IL-33 is Important to Treg
The mesenchyme develops into the tissues of the lymphatic and circulatory systems, as well as the musculoskeletal system. This latter system is characterized as connective tissues throughout the body, such as bone, muscle and cartilage. A malignant cancer of mesenchymal cells is a type of sarcoma.
mesenchymal Stromal Cells – mSC – some not all, VAT mSCs express IL-33
development of a mAb Panel for sorting the mSC Subtypes
Deeper transcriptome for Phenotyping of VAT mSCs
physiologic & pathologic perturbation

Age-dependent Treg and mSC changes – Linear with increase in age
Sex-dependent Treg and mSC changes – Female

Treg loss in cases of Obesity leading to fibrosis
Treg keep IL-33-Producing mSCs under rein
Lean tissue vs Obese tissue
Aged mice show poor skeletal muscle repair – it is reverses by IL-33 Injection
Immuno-response: target tissues systemic T reg
Treg and mSC

Aviv Regev, Broad Institute; Koch Institute

“Cell atlases as roadmaps to understand Cancer”

Colon disease UC – genetic underlining risk, – A single cell atlas of healthy and UC colonic mucosa inflammed and non-inflammed: Epithelial, stromal, Immune – fibroblast not observed in UC colon IAFs; IL13RA2 + IL11
Anti TNF responders – epithelial cells
Anti TNF non-responders – inflammatory monocytes fibroblasts
RESISTANCE to anti-cancer therapy: OSM (Inflammatory monocytes-OSMR (IAF)
cell-cell interactions from variations across individuals
Most UC-risk genes are cell type specific
Variation within a cell type helps predict GWAS gene functions – epithelial cell signature – organize US GWAS into cell type specific – genes in associated regions: UC and IBD

Melanoma
malignant cells with resistance in cold niches in situ
cells express the resistance program pre-treatment: resistance UP – cold
Predict checkpoint immunotherapy outcomes
CDK4/6 – computational search predict as program regulators: abemaciclib in cell lines

Poster Presenters

Preeti Sharma, University of Illinois

T cell receptor and CAR-T engineering – T cell therapy

TCR Complex: Vbeta Cbeta P2A Valpha Calpha
CAR-T Aga2 HA scTCR/scFv c-myc
Directed elovution to isolate optimal TCR or CAR
Eng TCR and CARt cell therapy
Use of TCRs against pep/MHC allows targeting a n array of cancer antigens
TCRs are isolated from T cell clones
Conventional TCR identification method vs In Vitro TCR Eng directed evolution
T1 and RD1 TCRs drive activity against MART-1 in CD4+ T cells
CD8+
TCR engineering for Targeting glycosylated cancer antigens
Normal glycosylation vs Aberrant glycosylation
Engineering 237-CARs libraries with conjugated (Tn-OTS8) against multiple human Tn-antigend
In vitro engineering: broaden specificity to multiple peptide backbone
CAR engineering collaborations with U Chicago, U Wash, UPenn, Copenhagen, Germany

Martin LaFleur, HMS

CRISPR- Cas9 Bone marrow stem cells for Cancer Immunotherapy

CHIME: CHimeric IMmune Editing system
sgRNA-Vex
CHIME can be used to KO genes in multiple immune lineages
identify T cell intrinsic effects in the LCMV model Spleen-depleted, Spleen enhanced
Loss of Ptpn2 enhances CD8+ T cell responses to LCMV and Tumors
Ptpn2 deletion in the immune system enhanced tumor immunity
CHIME enables in vivo screening

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2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for contributions to Cancer Immunotherapy to James P. Allison, Ph.D., of the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Allison shares the prize with Tasuku Honjo, M.D., Ph.D., of Kyoto University Institute, Japan

Posted in CANCER BIOLOGY & Innovations in Cancer Therapy, Cancer Genomics, Cancer Vaccines: Targeting Cancer Genes for Immunotherapy, Cancer-Immune Interactions, Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC), Efficacy of Anti-Tumor T Cells, Engineering Better T Cells, Engineering Enhanced Cancer Vaccines, Genomic Expression, Human Antibody Response, Human Circulating Antibody Repertoire, Immuno-Oncology & Genomics, Immunotherapy, Metabolic Immuno-Oncology, NK Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapy, Synergistic Innate and Adaptive Immunotherapy on October 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for contributions to Cancer Immunotherapy to James P. Allison, Ph.D., of the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Allison shares the prize with Tasuku Honjo, M.D., Ph.D., of Kyoto University Institute, Japan

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

See

Immune System Stimulants: Articles of Note @pharmaceuticalintelligence.com

Curators: Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/05/01/immune-system-stimulants-articles-of-note-pharmaceuticalintelligence-com/

Immune-Oncology Molecules In Development & Articles on Topic in @pharmaceuticalintelligence.com

Curators: Stephen J Williams, PhD and Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/01/11/articles-on-immune-oncology-molecules-in-development-pharmaceuticalintelligence-com/

Monday, October 1, 2018

NIH grantees win 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The Nobel Prize medallion.Nobel Foundation

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to National Institutes of Health grantee James P. Allison, Ph.D., of the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Allison shares the prize with Tasuku Honjo, M.D., Ph.D., of Kyoto University Institute, Japan, for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said, “by stimulating the inherent ability of our immune system to attack tumor cells this year’s Nobel Laureates have established an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.”

Dr. Allison discovered that a particular protein (CTLA-4) acts as a braking system, preventing full activation of the immune system when a cancer is emerging. By delivering an antibody that blocks that protein, Allison showed the brakes could be released. The discovery has led to important developments in cancer drugs called checkpoint inhibitors and dramatic responses to previously untreatable cancers. Dr. Honjo discovered a protein on immune cells and revealed that it also operates as a brake, but with a different mechanism of action.

“Jim’s work was pivotal for cancer therapy by enlisting our own immune systems to launch an attack on cancer and arrest its development,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. “NIH is proud to have supported this groundbreaking research.”

Dr. Allison has received continuous funding from NIH since 1979, receiving more than $13.7 million primarily from NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

“This work has led to remarkably effective, sometime curative, therapy for patients with advanced cancer, who we were previously unable to help,” said NCI Director Ned Sharpless, M.D. “Their findings have ushered in the era of cancer immunotherapy, which along with surgery, radiation and cytotoxic chemotherapy, represents a ‘fourth modality’ for treating cancer. A further understanding of the biology underlying the immune system and cancer has the potential to help many more patients.”

“Dr. Allison’s elegant and groundbreaking work in basic immunology over four decades and its important applicability to cancer is a vivid demonstration of the critical nature of interdisciplinary biomedical research supported by NIH,” says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

SOURCE

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-grantees-win-2018-nobel-prize-physiology-or-medicine

Dr. Lev-Ari covered in person the following curated articles about James Allison, PhD since his days at University of California, Berkeley, including the prizes awarded prior to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology.

2018 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research goes to NIH’s Dr. Rosenberg and fellow immunotherapy researchers James P. Allison, Ph.D., and Carl H. June, M.D.

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2018/08/15/2018-albany-medical-center-prize-in-medicine-and-biomedical-research-goes-to-nihs-dr-rosenberg-and-fellow-immunotherapy-researchers-james-p-allison-ph-d-and-carl-h-june-m-d/

Lectures by The 2017 Award Recipients of Warren Alpert Foundation Prize in Cancer Immunology, October 5, 2017, HMS, 77 Louis Paster, Boston

REAL TIME Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2017/09/08/lectures-by-the-2017-award-recipients-of-warren-alpert-foundation-prize-in-cancer-immunology-october-5-2017-hms-77-louis-paster-boston/

Cancer-free after immunotherapy treatment: Treating advanced colon cancer – targeting KRAS gene mutation by tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and Killer T-cells (NK)

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/12/08/cancer-free-after-immunotherapy-treatment-treating-advanced-colon-cancer-targeting-kras-gene-mutation-by-tumor-infiltrating-lymphocytes-tils-and-killer-t-cells-nk/

New Class of Immune System Stimulants: Cyclic Di-Nucleotides (CDN): Shrink Tumors and bolster Vaccines, re-arm the Immune System’s Natural Killer Cells, which attack Cancer Cells and Virus-infected Cells

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/04/24/new-class-of-immune-system-stimulants-cyclic-di-nucleotides-cdn-shrink-tumors-and-bolster-vaccines-re-arm-the-immune-systems-natural-killer-cells-which-attack-cancer-cells-and-virus-inf/

UC Berkeley research led to Nobel Prize-winning immunotherapy

By Robert Sanders, Media relations| OCTOBER 1, 2018

Immunologist James P. Allison today shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for groundbreaking work he conducted on cancer immunotherapy at UC Berkeley during his 20 years as director of the campus’s Cancer Research Laboratory.

James Allison, who for 20 years was a UC Berkeley immunologist conducting fundamental research on cancer, is now at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Now at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Allison shared the award with Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University in Japan “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.”

Allison, 70, conducted basic research on how the immune system – in particular, a cell called a T cell – fights infection. His discoveries led to a fundamentally new strategy for treating malignancies that unleashes the immune system to kill cancer cells. A monoclonal antibody therapy he pioneered was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2011 to treat malignant melanoma, and spawned several related therapies now being used against lung, prostate and other cancers.

“Because this approach targets immune cells rather than specific tumors, it holds great promise to thwart diverse cancers,” the Lasker Foundation wrote when it awarded Allison its 2015 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award.

Allison’s work has already benefited thousands of people with advanced melanoma, a disease that used to be invariably fatal within a year or so of diagnosis. The therapy he conceived has resulted in elimination of cancer in a significant fraction of patients for a decade and counting, and it appears likely that many of these people are cured.

“Targeted therapies don’t cure cancer, but immunotherapy is curative, which is why many consider it the biggest advance in a generation,” Allison said in a 2015 interview. “Clearly, immunotherapy now has taken its place along with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation as a reliable and objective way to treat cancer.”

“We are thrilled to see Jim’s work recognized by the Nobel Committee,” said Russell Vance, the current director of the Cancer Research Laboratory and a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology. “We congratulate him on this highly deserved honor. This award is a testament to the incredible impact that the fundamental research Jim conducted at Berkeley has had on the lives of cancer patients”

“I don’t know if I could have accomplished this work anywhere else than Berkeley,” Allison said. “There were a lot of smart people to work with, and it felt like we could do almost anything. I always tell people that it was one of the happiest times of my life, with the academic environment, the enthusiasm, the students, the faculty.”

In this video about UC Berkeley’s new Immunotherapeutics and Vaccine Research Initiative (IVRI), Allison discusses his groundbreaking work on cancer immunotherapy.

In fact, Allison was instrumental in creating the research environment of the current Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley as well as the department’s division of immunology, in which he served stints as chair and division head during his time at Berkeley, said David Raulet, director of Berkeley’s Immunotherapeutics and Vaccine Research Initiative (IVRI).

“His actions helped create the superb research environment here, which is so conducive to making the fundamental discoveries that will be the basis of the next generation of medical breakthroughs,” Raulet said.

Self vs. non-self

Allison joined the UC Berkeley faculty as a professor of molecular and cell biology and director of the Cancer Research Laboratory in 1985. An immunologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin, he focused on a type of immune system cell called the T cell or T lymphocyte, which plays a key role in fighting off bacterial and viral infections as well as cancer.

Supercharging the immune system to cure disease: immunotherapy research at UC Berkeley. (UC Berkeley video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally)

At the time, most doctors and scientists believed that the immune system could not be exploited to fight cancer, because cancer cells look too much like the body’s own cells, and any attack against cancer cells would risk killing normal cells and creating serious side effects.

“The community of cancer biologists was not convinced that you could even use the immune system to alter cancer’s outcome, because cancer was too much like self,” said Matthew “Max” Krummel, who was a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow with Allison in the 1990s and is now a professor of pathology and a member of the joint immunology group at UCSF. “The dogma at the time was, ‘Don’t even bother.’ ”

“What was heady about the moment was that we didn’t really listen to the dogma, we just did it,” Krummel added. Allison, in particular, was a bit “irreverent, but in a productive way. He didn’t suffer fools easily.” This attitude rubbed off on the team.

Trying everything they could in mice to tweak the immune system, Krummel and Allison soon found that a protein receptor called CTLA-4 seemed to be holding T cells back, like a brake in a car.

Postdoctoral fellow Dana Leach then stepped in to see if blocking the receptor would unleash the immune system to actually attack a cancerous tumor. In a landmark paper published in Science in 1996, Allison, Leach and Krummel showed not only that antibodies against CTLA-4 released the brake and allowed the immune system to attack the tumors, but that the technique was effective enough to result in long-term disappearance of the tumors.

“When Dana showed me the results, I was really surprised,” Allison said. “It wasn’t that the anti-CTLA-4 antibodies slowed the tumors down. The tumors went away.”

After Allison himself replicated the experiment, “that’s when I said, OK, we’ve got something here.”

Checkpoint blockade

The discovery led to a concept called “checkpoint blockade.” This holds that the immune system has many checkpoints designed to prevent it from attacking the body’s own cells, which can lead to autoimmune disease. As a result, while attempts to rev up the immune system are like stepping on the gas, they won’t be effective unless you also release the brakes.

James Allison in 1993, when he was conducting research at UC Berkeley on a promising immunotherapy now reaching fruition. (Jane Scherr photo)

“The temporary activation of the immune system though ‘checkpoint blockade’ provides a window of opportunity during which the immune system is mobilized to attack and eliminate tumors,” Vance said.

Allison spent the next few years amassing data in mice to show that anti-CTLA-4 antibodies work, and then, in collaboration with a biotech firm called Medarex, developed human antibodies that showed promise in early clinical trials against melanoma and other cancers. The therapy was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2011 and approved by the FDA as ipilimumab (trade name Yervoy), which is now used to treat skin cancers that have metastasized or that cannot be removed surgically.

Meanwhile, Allison left UC Berkeley in 2004 for Memorial Sloan Kettering research center in New York to be closer to the drug companies shepherding his therapy through clinical trials, and to explore in more detail how checkpoint blockade works.

“Berkeley was my favorite place, and if I could have stayed there, I would have,” he said. “But my research got to the point where all the animal work showed that checkpoint blockade had a lot of potential in people, and working with patients at Berkeley wasn’t possible. There’s no hospital, no patients.”

Thanks to Allison’s doggedness, anti-CTLA-4 therapy is now an accepted therapy for cancer and it opened the floodgates for a slew of new immunotherapies, Krummel said. There now are several hundred ongoing clinical trials involving monoclonal antibodies to one or more receptors that inhibit T cell activity, sometimes combined with lower doses of standard chemotherapy.

Antibodies against one such receptor, PD-1, which Honjo discovered in 1992, have given especially impressive results. Allison’s initial findings can be credited for prompting researchers, including Allison himself, to carry out the studies that have demonstrated the potent anti-cancer effects of PD-1 antibodies. In 2015, the FDA approved anti-PD-1 therapy for malignant melanoma, and has since approved it for non-small-cell lung, gastric and several other cancers.

Science magazine named cancer immunotherapy its breakthrough of 2013 because that year, “clinical trials … cemented its potential in patients and swayed even the skeptics. The field hums with stories of lives extended: the woman with a grapefruit-size tumor in her lung from melanoma, alive and healthy 13 years later; the 6-year-old near death from leukemia, now in third grade and in remission; the man with metastatic kidney cancer whose disease continued fading away even after treatment stopped.”

Allison pursued more clinical trials for immunotherapy at Sloan-Kettering and then in 2012 returned to his native Texas.

Born in Alice, Texas, on Aug. 7, 1948, Allison earned a B.S. in microbiology in 1969 and a Ph.D. in biological science in 1973 from the University of Texas, Austin.

RELATED INFORMATION

Nobel Prize website

Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award

The story of Yervoy (ipilimumab)

Activator Puts the Brakes on Cancer (technology transfer and ipilimumab, by Mary Roberts Henderson)

Antibodies stimulate tumor rejection and confer subsequent immunity, UC Berkeley scientists report (1996 UC Berkeley press release)

Hot new immune therapy from UC Berkeley is being readied for clinical trials against prostate cancer and melanoma (1999 UC Berkeley press release)