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Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy 12/2020

01-12-2020 | NSCLC | Original Article

Anlotinib optimizes anti-tumor innate immunity to potentiate the therapeutic effect of PD-1 blockade in lung cancer

Authors: Yinli Yang, Ling Li, Zhansheng Jiang, Bin Wang, Zhanyu Pan

Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy | Issue 12/2020

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Abstract

Background

Many anti-angiogenic agents have the potential to modulate the tumor microenvironment and improve immunotherapy. Anlotinib has demonstrated anti-tumor efficacy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in third-line clinical trials. However, its roles in immune regulation and potentially synergistic anti-tumor effect in combination with immune checkpoint inhibition remain unclear.

Methods

Here, based on a syngeneic lung cancer mouse model, the intratumoral immunological changes post-anlotinib treatment in the model were assessed. Furthermore, it was tested whether anlotinib could enhance the anti-tumor effect of αPD-1 in vivo.

Results

This study shows that anlotinib increased infiltration of the innate immune cells, including natural killer (NK) cells, and antigen-presenting cells (APC), which include M1-like tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) and dendritic cells (DC), whereas the percentage of M2-like TAM was dramatically reduced. Subsequently, when combined with PD-1/PD-L1 (programmed cell death 1/PD-1 ligand 1) blockade, anlotinib conferred significantly synergistic therapeutic benefits.

Conclusions

Overall, these findings describe a role for anlotinib in the innate immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and a potentially synergistic anti-tumor combination with immune checkpoint inhibition.
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Metadata
Title
Anlotinib optimizes anti-tumor innate immunity to potentiate the therapeutic effect of PD-1 blockade in lung cancer
Authors
Yinli Yang
Ling Li
Zhansheng Jiang
Bin Wang
Zhanyu Pan
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy / Issue 12/2020
Print ISSN: 0340-7004
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0851
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-020-02641-5

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