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01-02-2013 | Clinical Trial

Mammaglobin-A cDNA vaccination of breast cancer patients induces antigen-specific cytotoxic CD4+ICOS^hi T cells

Authors: Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi, Timothy P. Fleming, Peter S. Goedegebuure, Michael Naughton, Cynthia Ma, Craig Lockhart, Feng Gao, William E. Gillanders, T. Mohanakumar

Published in: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment | Issue 1/2013

Abstract

Mammaglobin-A (Mam-A) is a 10 kDa secretory protein that is overexpressed in 80 % of primary and metastatic human breast cancers. Previous studies from our laboratory demonstrated that Mam-A cDNA vaccine can induce Mam-A-specific CD8 T cell responses and mediate regression of human breast cancer xenografts in NOD/SCID mice. In this article, we present our results on a phase I clinical trial of a Mam-A cDNA vaccination in breast cancer patients with stage-IV metastatic disease, including the impact of vaccination on the expression of the inducible co-stimulator molecule (ICOS) on CD4 T cells. Specimens from seven patients with stage-IV metastatic cancer were available for these analyses. Patients were vaccinated with a Mam-A cDNA vaccine on days 0, 28, and 56, and immune responses were assessed at serial time points following vaccination. At 6 months following the first vaccination, flow cytometric analysis demonstrated a significant increase in the frequency of CD4+ICOS^hi T cells from 5 ± 2 % pre-vaccination to 23 ± 4 % (p < 0.001), with a concomitant decrease in the frequency of CD4+FoxP3+ T cells (regulatory T cells [Treg]) from 19 ± 6 to 10 ± 5 % (p < 0.05). ELISpot analysis of CD4+ICOS^hi sorted T cells demonstrated that following vaccination the cytokines produced by Mam-A-specific T cells switched from IL-10 (78 ± 21 spm pre-vaccination to 32 ± 14 spm 5 months post-vaccine p < 0.001) to IFN-γ (12 ± 6 spm pre-vaccination to 124 ± 31 spm 5 months post-vaccine p < 0.001). The ratio of CD4+ICOS^hi T cells to CD4+FoxP3+ T cells increased from 0.37 ± 0.12 before vaccination to 2.3 ± 0.72 (p = 0.021) following vaccination. Further, these activated CD4+ICOS^hi T cells induced preferential lysis of human breast cancer cells expressing Mam-A protein. We conclude that Mam-A cDNA vaccination is associated with specific expansion and activation of CD4+ICOS^hi T cells, with a concomitant decrease in Treg frequency. These encouraging results strongly suggest that Mam-A cDNA vaccination can induce antitumor immunity in breast cancer patients.

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Title: Mammaglobin-A cDNA vaccination of breast cancer patients induces antigen-specific cytotoxic CD4+ICOShi T cells
Authors: Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi
Timothy P. Fleming
Peter S. Goedegebuure
Michael Naughton
Cynthia Ma
Craig Lockhart
Feng Gao
William E. Gillanders
T. Mohanakumar
Publication date: 01-02-2013
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Breast Cancer Research and Treatment / Issue 1/2013
Print ISSN: 0167-6806
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7217
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-012-2110-9

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