Basic Concepts in Bladder Cancer Immunotherapy
Leonard G. Gomella, MD Chairman, Department of Urology Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia, PA
BCG Intravesical Immunotherapy • BCG immunotherapy standard of care NMIBC • Mechanism is s:ll under inves:ga:on,is recognized as immunotherapy
• BCG is internalized by both urothelial cancer cells and immune cells – Causes secre:on of cytokines and chemokines, and presenta:on of BCG and/or cancer cell an:gens to ac:vate T cells
• Safety: < 5% serious complica:ons – Common SE: fever, hematuria, granulomatous prosta::s
Redelman-Sidi, G et al. Nature Reviews Urology 2014; 11: 153–162 Lamm DL. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;31 Suppl 3:S86
Intravesical BCG Immunotherapy
BCG
Bladder cancer cells
CD8+ T cell HLA class I DC
Processing and antigen presentation
HLA class II
apoptosis BCG or cancer antigen
phagocytosis
CD4+ T cell
inflammation side effects
Macrophage
NK cell
Th-1 response IL-2, IL-12, IFN-γ, TNF-β
Cell-mediated immune response
DC CD8+
T cell Processing and antigen presentation
phagocytosis
Cytokine production
Overview of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy
Hallmarks of Cancer
Hanahan D, Weinberg RA. Cell. 2011;144:646-674. Hanahan D, Weinberg RA. Cell. 2000;100:57-70.
Sustaining prolifera:ve signaling
Deregula:ng cellular
energe:cs
Avoiding immune
destruc0on
Enabling replica:ve immortality
Inducing angiogenesis
Resis:ng cell death
Evading growth
suppressors Ac:va:ng invasion and metastasis
Hallmarks of Cancer
Pathogenesis
The immune system has a major role in cancer pathogenesis
Increased Incidence of Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals
• Malignant tumors develop in individuals with compromised immune systems1-‐3
1. Kasiske BL, Wang C, et al. Am J Transplant. 2004;4(6):905-‐913. 2. Le Mire L, Wojnarowska F, et al. Br J Dermatol. 2006;154(3):472-‐477. 3. Abbas AK, Lichtman AH. Basic Immunology. 3rd ed. 2011.
Tes:cular cancer
Breast cancer
Prostate cancer
Colon cancer
Bladder cancer
Hepatobiliary cancer
Melanoma
Kidney cancer
Non-‐Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Non-‐melanoma skin cancer
Tumor / cancer risk in transplant pa0ents compared with general popula0on1-‐3
0 5 10 15 20 Fold-‐increase in tumor / cancer risk
20-‐fold and beyond
15-‐fold
8-‐fold
3-‐fold
5-‐fold
2-‐fold
Basics: Immune system and cancer
interac:ons • Immune system and cancer interact in a
dynamic process known as “Immunoedi:ng” or “the 3 E’s” – Elimina:on: ini:al tumor development, low tumor volume immune system can eradicate cancer cells
– Equilibrium: immune system controls cancer growth
– Escape: con:nued growth; gene:c instability tumor heterogeneity takes place and overwhelms the immune system
Dunn GP, et al. Nat Rev Immunol. 2006;6(11):836-848. Mittal D, et al. Curr Opin Immunol. 2014;27:16-25
Immune Evasion of Cancer Progressive metasta:c cancer represents a failure of immune surveillance
Kalbasi A, et al. J Clin Invest. 2013;123(7):2756
An:cancer Immunity is Mediated Through a Mul:-‐step Process
Chen DS, et al. Immunity. 2013;39(1):1-10.
1. An:gens released by cancer cells
2. An:gens presented to T cells 3. T cell priming and ac:va:on 4. T cell trafficking to tumors 5. T cell infiltra:on into tumors 6. T cell recogni:on of cancer cells 7. Killing of cancer cells
Immune Checkpoints Lead to Promo:on or Inhibi:on of Immune Response
Chen DS, et al. Immunity. 2013;39(1):1-10.
Ac:va:ng:
CD28; CD137; OX40; GITR;IL-‐2
Inhibitory:
CTLA-‐4; PD-‐L1/PD-‐1;
PD-‐L1/B7.1
Principles of Cancer Immunotherapy • Immune response to cancer both s:mulatory and inhibitory
factors • Inhibitory immune checkpoints include CTLA-‐4, PD-‐1, PDL-‐1
– Limit immune response to protect self – Oien upregulated in tumors and in immune cells invading tumors – Results in inhibi:on of the T cell immune response – Allows tumors to more easily “hide” from the immune system
• Checkpoint inhibitors – An:bodies block the immune checkpoint to enhance T-‐cell and other immune cell func:ons
– Allow the immune response to expand – Examples of FDA-‐approved inhibitors include:
• CTLA-‐4: Ipilimumab • PD-‐1: Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab • PD-‐L1: Atezolizumab
Sharma P, et al. Nat Rev Cancer. 2011;11:805-812 Pardoll D. Nat Rev Cancer. 2012;12:252-264
Clinical Cancer Immunotherapy • Passive Immunotherapy:
o Monoclonal an:bodies directed against growth factors such as bevacizumab (VGEF), cetuximab (EGFR)
o Chronically administered, no sustainable an:-‐tumor response • Ac:ve Immunotherapy: induce host response to tumor by T-‐cell cascade -‐> CTL
o Need T-‐cell for solid tumor kill (cytotoxic T lymphocyte or CTL) o T cell cannot respond to naked or circula:ng an:gens o Require an:gens to be “presented” to T cells on APC (an:gen presen:ng
cells) o Dendri:c cells, Langerhans cells, monocytes, macrophages are APC o APC internalize an:gens, couple to HLA molecules to “present” on the
surface to ac:vate T-‐cell o Immune response depends on s:mulatory signals and inhibitory
“checkpoints” to avoid excessive produc:on of immune cells such s T cells that could be detrimental to normal :ssue
Selected Immunotherapies in Oncology • Vaccine based therapies: T cell ac:va:on to seek out tumor cells
– Eg, Sipuleucel-‐T, BCG • Cytokines: naturally occurring, modulate immune response
– Eg, IL-‐2, interferon-‐alpha • Monoclonal an0bodies: block specific growth factors, etc causing cell
death cascade – Eg, bevacizumab targe:ng VGEF
NEWEST THERAPIES • Checkpoint inhibitors: monoclonal an:bodies block the immune
checkpoint response; “take the brakes off” immune system – Eg, CTLA-‐4, PD-‐1, PD-‐L1 inhibitors
• Chimeric An0gen Receptor (Car) T-‐cell Therapy – Pa:ent’s T cells are reengineered to recognize cancer (experimental)
Dinarello CA Eur J Immunol. 2007 Nov; 37(Suppl 1): S34–S45. Weiner LM, et al. Nat Rev Immunol. 2010;10:317-327. Kantoff PW, et al. N Engl J Med. 2010;363:411-422. Pardoll D. Nat Rev Cancer. 2012;12:252-264.
hnp://www.ny:mes.com/2016/12/03/health/immunotherapy-‐cancer.html
Immune Checkpoint Inhibi:on
• Pembrolizumab: PD-‐1 monoclonal an:body • Nivolumab: PD-‐1 monoclonal an:body • Atezolizumab: monoclonal an:body to programmed death ligand 1 (PD-‐L1)
• Avelumab: an:-‐PD-‐L1 monoclonal • Durvalumab: an:-‐PD-‐L1 monoclonal Homet Moreno B, et al. Br J Cancer. 2015 Apr 28;112(9):1421-7 Markham A. Drugs. 2016 Aug;76(12):1227-32
PD-‐1 T cell receptor PDL-‐1 tumor ligand PD-‐1/PD-‐L1 inhibitors result in higher response rates across a wide range of tumors than most other immunotherapies
PD-‐1/PD-‐L1 Ac:vity
Suppression of T-‐cell response….. “Taking the brakes off”
http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/feature/immune-checkpoint-inhibitors-bring-new-hope-to-cancer-patients/20067127.article Accessed October 24, 2016
Why is Bladder Cancer A Good Target for Immunotherapy?
Urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) as an target for immunotherapy
• Pa:ents with UBC have a high rate of soma:c muta:ons similar to tumors associated with tobacco use or environmental carcinogen exposure
• Host immune system can recognize tumor an:gens. An:gens detected seen as foreign, s:mula:ng an immune an: tumor response
Lawrence MS, et al. Nature Jul 11;499(7457):214-8, 2013; Bellmunt. Ann Oncol. 2013; Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. Comprehensive molecular characterization of urothelial bladder carcinoma. Nature 507, 315–322 (2014)
Basis of Urothelial Cancer Immunotherapy
• High rates of soma:c muta:ons – May enhance immune response
• Urothelial cancers may express compounds that suppress the immune system such as programmed death-‐ligand 1 (PD-‐L1)
• CD4+ and CD8+ T cells express inhibitory PD-‐1 to prevent overs:mula:on of the immune response
• PD-‐L1/and PD-‐1 are the immune checkpoints • Check point inhibitors enhance an:-‐tumor effects by allowing a more robust immune response
Powles, T, et al. Nature 2014; 515: 558–562. Hafez N, Petrylak DP. Immunotherapy. 2015;7(1):1-2
Immune Cells Within Tumors Predict Overall Survival: MIBC Example
• Higher immune cell density (T cells) predic:ve of survival of pa:ents with MIBC • Suggests importance of immune response in MIBC
1. Sharma P, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007;104(10):3967-3972. 2. Galon J, Pagès F, et al. Science. 2006;313(5795):1960-1964.
Prop
. Surviving W
ithou
t Disease
Time in Months 40 20 0 60 80
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
P<0.001
T cells (CD8) <8 (median survival=13 months) T cells (CD8) ≥8 (median survival >80 months)
Checkpoint Inhibitors and Biomarkers • FDA approved complementary diagnos:c, the PD-‐L1 (SP142) assay with atezolizumab – detects PD-‐L1 expression on tumor-‐infiltra:ng immune cells
• Phase 1 study of atezolizumab: higher response rates were with higher tumor levels of PD-‐L1 expression in tumor-‐infiltra:ng lymphocytes, not tumor cells.
• While promising, many other PD-‐L1 an:bodies exist limi:ng generalizability
• Genomic and other tes:ng being u:lized to determine best response to a given checkpoint inhibitor
Petrylak DP, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2015;33(suppl): abstract 4501 Tsiatas M, et al. Ann Transl Med. 2016 Jul;4(14):270
mRNA expression levels of PD1/PDL1 and CTLA4 genes in a series of 155 bladder tumors.
Pignot, et al. J Clin Oncol 34, 2016 (suppl; abstr 4523)
PD-‐L1 Diagnos0c Tes0ng Clinical Experience at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
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Urothelial Carcinoma Tumor Cells
Urothelial Carcinoma Tumor-‐infiltra0ng Immune Cells
PD-‐L1 IHC Staining Using Ventana SP142
Magnifica0on x10 Magnifica0on x10
Courtesy of Charalambos C. Solomides, MD, Director of Cytopathology
Generic/Dosing Brand Manufacturer Target Comp. Biomarker
Urothelial Carcinoma Approval
Date(s) of UC Approval
Approval in Other Malignancies
Atezolizumab 3wk TECENTRIQ Genentech PD-‐L1 VENTANA PD-‐L1 (SP142)*
1, 2, 3 5/18/20161,2 4/17/20173
NSLC
Avelumab 2wk BAVENCIO Pfizer PD-‐L1 DAKO 73-‐10
1, 2 5/9/2017 Merckel Cell
Durvalumab 2wk IMFINZI AstraZeneca PD-‐L1 VETANA PD-‐L1 (SP263)*
1, 2 5/1/2017 -‐-‐
Nivolumab 2wk OPDIVO Bristol-‐Myers Squibb
PD-‐1 DAKO 28-‐8$ 1, 2 2/2/2017 Melanoma, NSLC,RCC, others
Pembrolizumab 3wk KEYTRUDA Merck PD-‐1 DAKO 22C3$
1, 2, 3 5/18/2017 Melanoma, NSCLC, Microsatellite Instability-‐High Cancer, others
Checkpoint inhibitors for systemic use in advanced UC (7/2017)
(Mark R et al In press American J Hematology Onc)
1. Locally advanced or metasta:c UC with progression during or aier treatment w/pla:num chemo. 2. Locally advanced or metasta:c UC progressing within 12 mo of neoadjuvant/ adjuvant pla:num chemo. 3. Locally advanced or metasta:c UC if pla:num ineligible. * Indicates FDA approved companion biomarker
$ FDA approved biomarker in other malignancies
Why did early BCG studies use 6 weeks of therapy?
n Because BCG was packaged in 6 packs.
Why does beer come in 6 packs?