Synergistic cancer immunotherapy combines MVA-CD40L induced innate and adaptive immunity with tumor targeting antibodies.

Virus-based vaccines and appropriate costimulation potently enhance antigen-specific T cell immunity against cancer. Here we report the use of recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (rMVA) encoding costimulatory CD40L against solid tumors. Therapeutic treatment with rMVA-CD40L-expressing tumor-associated antigens results in the control of established tumors. The expansion of tumor-specific cytotoxic CD8+ T cells is essential for the therapeutic antitumor effects. Strikingly, rMVA-CD40L also induces strong natural killer (NK) cell activation and expansion. Moreover, the combination of rMVA-CD40L and tumor-targeting antibodies results in increased therapeutic antitumor efficacy relying on the presence of Fc receptor and NK cells. We describe a translationally relevant therapeutic synergy between systemic viral vaccination and CD40L costimulation. We show strengthened antitumor immune responses when both rMVA-CD40L-induced innate and adaptive immune mechanisms are exploited by combination with tumor-targeting antibodies. This immunotherapeutic approach could translate into clinical cancer therapies where tumor-targeting antibodies are employed.

Citation

José Medina-Echeverz, Maria Hinterberger, Marco Testori, Marlene Geiger, Raphael Giessel, Barbara Bathke, Ronny Kassub, Fabienne Gräbnitz, Giovanna Fiore, Sonia T Wennier, Paul Chaplin, Mark Suter, Hubertus Hochrein, Henning Lauterbach. Synergistic cancer immunotherapy combines MVA-CD40L induced innate and adaptive immunity with tumor targeting antibodies. Nature communications. 2019 Nov 06;10(1):5041

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PMID: 31695037

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