1. Changes in T-cell subsets and clonal repertoire during chemoimmunotherapy with pembrolizumab and paclitaxel or capecitabine for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.
- Author
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Chun B, Pucilowska J, Chang S, Kim I, Nikitin B, Koguchi Y, Redmond WL, Bernard B, Rajamanickam V, Polaske N, Fields PA, Conrad V, Schmidt M, Urba WJ, Conlin AK, McArthur HL, and Page DB
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Capecitabine administration & dosage, Female, Humans, Lymphocyte Depletion, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Metastasis, Paclitaxel administration & dosage, Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell immunology, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms immunology, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms pathology, Young Adult, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized administration & dosage, Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols therapeutic use, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors administration & dosage, T-Lymphocyte Subsets immunology, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms drug therapy
- Abstract
Background: Chemoimmunotherapy is a standard treatment for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), however, the impacts of different chemotherapies on T-cell populations, which could correlate with clinical activity, are not known. Quantifying T-cell populations with flow cytometry and T-cell receptor (TCR) immunosequencing may improve our understanding of how chemoimmunotherapy affects T-cell subsets, and to what extent clonal shifts occur during treatment. TCR immunosequencing of intratumoral T cells may facilitate the identification and monitoring of putatively tumor-reactive T-cell clones within the blood., Methods: Blood and tumor biopsies were collected from patients with metastatic TNBC enrolled in a phase Ib clinical trial of first or second-line pembrolizumab with paclitaxel or capecitabine. Using identical biospecimen processing protocols, blood samples from a cohort of patients treated for early-stage breast cancer were obtained for comparison. Treatment-related immunological changes in peripheral blood and intratumoral T cells were characterized using flow cytometry and TCR immunosequencing. Clonal proliferation rates of T cells were compared based on intratumoral enrichment., Results: When combined with pembrolizumab, paclitaxel and capecitabine resulted in similar time-dependent lymphodepletions across measured peripheral T-cell subsets. Their effects were more modest than that observed following curative-intent dose-dense anthracycline and cyclophosphamide (ddAC) (average fold-change in CD3
+ cells, capecitabine: -0.42, paclitaxel: -0.56, ddAC: -1.21). No differences in T-cell clonality or richness were observed following capecitabine or paclitaxel-based treatments. Regression modeling identified differences in the emergence of novel T-cell clones that were not detected at baseline (odds compared with ddAC, capecitabine: 0.292, paclitaxel: 0.652). Pembrolizumab with paclitaxel or capecitabine expanded T-cell clones within tumors; however, these clones did not always expand within the blood. Proliferation rates within the blood were similar between clones that were enriched and those that were not enriched within tumors., Conclusion: Chemoimmunotherapy for metastatic TNBC with pembrolizumab and capecitabine or paclitaxel resulted in similar peripheral T-cell subset lymphodepletion without altering T-cell clonal diversity. Regression modeling methods are applicable in immune monitoring studies, such as this to identify the odds of novel T-cell clones emerging during treatment, and proliferation rates of tumor-enriched T-cell clones., Competing Interests: Competing interests: YK: Research support from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), GlaxoSmithKline, Shimadzu. WLR: Research support from Galectin Therapeutics, BMS, GlaxoSmithKline, Mi. NA Therapeutics, Inhibrx, Veana Therapeutics, Shimadzu, OncoSec Medical, Turn Biotechnologies, CanWell Pharma, Aeglea Biotherapeutics, and Calibr. Patents/Royalties: Galectin Therapeutics. Advisory Boards: Nektar Therapeutics, Vesselon. NP: Financial interest: Adaptive Biotechnologies. PAF: Financial interest: Adaptive Biotechnologies. WJU: Safety advisory board: Astra Zeneca. HLM: Research support: Merck, Lilly, BMS. Advisory/consultancy Merck, Lilly, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Immunomedics, Pfizer, Genentech, BMS, Genomic Health, ZIOPHARM Oncology; Travel/expenses: Merck, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Lilly, Amgen, Immunomedics, Pfizer, Genentech Puma Biotechnology; Speaker Bureau: Lilly. Institutional funding: Merck, Lilly, BMS, ZIOPHARM Oncology DBP: Research support: BMS, Merck, Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics. Advisory Boards: BMS, Merck, Syndax, Nektar, Puma, Nanostring, Genetech, Brooklyn Immunotherapeutics, Sanofi, Biotheranostics, NGMBio, Lilly. Speaker Bureau: Genentech, Novartis., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)- Published
- 2022
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