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Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy 7/2012

01-07-2012 | Original article

An immune-active tumor microenvironment favors clinical response to ipilimumab

Authors: Rui-Ru Ji, Scott D. Chasalow, Lisu Wang, Omid Hamid, Henrik Schmidt, John Cogswell, Suresh Alaparthy, David Berman, Maria Jure-Kunkel, Nathan O. Siemers, Jeffrey R. Jackson, Vafa Shahabi

Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy | Issue 7/2012

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Abstract

Purpose

Ipilimumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody specific to CTLA-4, has been shown to improve overall survival in metastatic melanoma patients. As a consequence of CTLA-4 blockade, ipilimumab treatment is associated with proliferation and activation of peripheral T cells. To better understand various tumor-associated components that may influence the clinical outcome of ipilimumab treatment, gene expression profiles of tumors from patients treated with ipilimumab were characterized.

Experimental design

Gene expression profiling was performed on tumor biopsies collected from 45 melanoma patients before and 3 weeks after the start of treatment in a phase II clinical trial.

Results

Analysis of pre-treatment tumors indicated that patients with high baseline expression levels of immune-related genes were more likely to respond favorably to ipilimumab. Furthermore, ipilimumab appeared to induce two major changes in tumors from patients who exhibited clinical activity: genes involved in immune response showed increased expression, whereas expression of genes for melanoma-specific antigens and genes involved in cell proliferation decreased. These changes were associated with the total lymphocyte infiltrate in tumors, and there was a suggestion of association with prolonged overall survival in these patients. Many IFN-γ-inducible genes and Th1-associated markers showed increased expression after ipilimumab treatment, suggesting an accumulation of this particular type of T cell at the tumor sites, which might play an important role in mediating the antitumor activity of ipilimumab.

Conclusions

These results support the proposed mechanism of action of ipilimumab, suggesting that cell-mediated immune responses play an important role in the antitumor activity of ipilimumab.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
An immune-active tumor microenvironment favors clinical response to ipilimumab
Authors
Rui-Ru Ji
Scott D. Chasalow
Lisu Wang
Omid Hamid
Henrik Schmidt
John Cogswell
Suresh Alaparthy
David Berman
Maria Jure-Kunkel
Nathan O. Siemers
Jeffrey R. Jackson
Vafa Shahabi
Publication date
01-07-2012
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy / Issue 7/2012
Print ISSN: 0340-7004
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0851
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-011-1172-6

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