618 Gynäkologie, Geburtsmedizin, Pädiatrie, Geriatrie
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The activation of immune cells by targeting checkpoint inhibitors showed promising results with increased patient survival in distinct primary cancers. Since only limited data exist for human brain metastases, we aimed at characterizing tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and expression of immune checkpoints in the respective tumors. Two brain metastases cohorts, a mixed entity cohort (n = 252) and a breast carcinoma validation cohort (n = 96) were analyzed for CD3+, CD8+, FOXP3+, PD-1+ lymphocytes and PD-L1+ tumor cells by immunohistochemistry. Analyses for association with clinico-epidemiological and neuroradiological parameters such as patient survival or tumor size were performed. TILs infiltrated brain metastases in three different patterns (stromal, peritumoral, diffuse). While carcinomas often show a strong stromal infiltration, TILs in melanomas often diffusely infiltrate the tumors. Highest levels of CD3+ and CD8+ lymphocytes were seen in renal cell carcinomas (RCC) and strongest PD-1 levels on RCCs and melanomas. High amounts of TILs, high ratios of PD-1+/CD8+ cells and high levels of PD-L1 were negatively correlated with brain metastases size, indicating that in smaller brain metastases CD8+ immune response might get blocked. PD-L1 expression strongly correlated with TILs and FOXP3 expression. No significant association of patient survival with TILs was observed, while high levels of PD-L1 showed a strong trend towards better survival in melanoma brain metastases (Log-Rank p = 0.0537). In summary, melanomas and RCCs seem to be the most immunogenic entities. Differences in immunotherapeutic response between tumor entities regarding brain metastases might be attributable to this finding and need further investigation in larger patient cohorts.
The ectonucleotidases CD39 and CD73 degrade ATP to adenosine which inhibits immune responses via the \(A_{2A}\) adenosine receptor (ADORA2A) on T and NK cells. The current study investigates the potential therapeutic use of the specific anti CD39- and anti CD73-antibodies A1 (CD39) and 7G2 (CD73) as these two ectonucleotidases are overexpressed in ovarian cancer (OvCA). As expected, NK cell cytotoxicity against the human ovarian cancer cell lines OAW-42 or SK-OV-3 was significantly increased in the presence of A1 or 7G2 antibody. While this might partly be due to antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, a luciferase-dependent assay for quantifying biologically active adenosine further showed that A1 and 7G2 can inhibit CD39 and CD73-dependent adenosine-generation. In turn, the reduction in adenosine levels achieved by addition of A1 and 7G2 to OAW-42 or SK-OV-3 cells was found to de-inhibit the proliferation of \(CD4^+\) T cells in coculture with OvCA cells. Likewise, blocking of CD39 and CD73 on OvCA cells via A1 and 7G2 led to an increased cytotoxicity of alloreactive primed T cells. Thus, antibodies like A1 and 7G2 could improve targeted therapy in ovarian cancer not only by specifically labeling overexpressed antigens but also by blocking adenosine-dependent immune evasion in this immunogenic malignancy.