Brain Tumor Immunotherapy and Biology
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common fatal brain tumor in adults which resists the standard of care therapy including chemotherapy, radiation and surgical resection.
The tumor microenvironment (TME) consisting of brain-resident microglia, macrophages, and T-cells plays a crucial role in inducing therapy resistance.
Therefore, for having effective therapeutic approaches to combat this deadly disease, targeting both tumor cell population as well as TME modulation is required.
The overall objective of our research program is to decipher novel targets in the tumor microenvironment, especially microglia and GBM-associated macrophages with translational potential.
On the mid-to long term, we aim for developing clinical trials combining microglia/macrophage targeting with tumor targeting in various brain tumor entities.
Our main projects
- Genetic and pharmacological microglia modulation in syngeneic brain tumor models
- Combinatorial targeting of tumor and microglia population using novel immunotherapeutics
- Assessment of glioblastoma region-specific microglia heterogeneity
- Preclinical and clinical development of novel CAR-T cells and CAR-macrophages
Thanks to our direct connection to the Neurosurgery Department of the University Hospital Basel (head: Prof. Luigi Mariani), we are able to obtain, process and analyze tumor samples. This has allowed us to generate a vast biorepository of clinically annotated glioma specimens bank as well as patient-derived xenograft models for testing the efficacy of therapeutic/immunotherapeutic modalities. We also utilize syngeneic GBM mouse models. Our strong national and international collaborations allows us to reach our goal to find more effective treatment strategies against GBM. Our work is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant PP00P3_176974) and the Department of Surgery.
Our publications
Enhancing anti-EGFRvIII CAR T cell therapy against glioblastoma with a paracrine SIRPγ-derived CD47 blocker
BioRxiv preprint, 2023 – https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.08.31.555122
A major challenge for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy against glioblastoma (GBM) is its immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), which is densely populated and supported by protumoral glioma-associated microglia and macrophages (GAMs). Targeting of CD47, a “don’t-eat-me” signal overexpressed by tumor cells, disrupts the CD47-SIRPα axis and induces GAM phagocytic function. However, antibody-mediated CD47 blockade monotherapy is associated with toxicity and low bioavailability in solid tumors. To overcome these limitations, we combined local CAR T cell therapy with paracrine GAM modulation for more effective elimination of GBM. To this end, we engineered a new CAR T cell against epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) that constitutively secretes a SIRPγ-related protein (SGRP) with high affinity to CD47. Anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cells eliminated EGFRvIII+ GBM in a dose-dependent manner in vitro and eradicated orthotopically xenografted EGFRvIII-mosaic GBM by locoregional application in vivo. This resulted in significant tumor-free long-term survival, followed by partial tumor control upon tumor re-challenge. The combination of anti-CD47 antibodies with anti-EGFRvIII CAR T cells failed to achieve a similar therapeutic effect, underscoring the importance of sustained paracrine GAM modulation. Multidimensional brain immunofluorescence microscopy and in-depth spectral flow cytometry on GBM-xenografted brains showed that anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cells accelerated GBM clearance, increased CD68+ cell trafficking to tumor scar sites, and induced myeloid-mediated tumor cell uptake. Additionally, in a peripheral lymphoma mouse xenograft model, anti-CD19-SGRP CAR T cells had superior efficacy compared to conventional anti-CD19 CAR T cells. Validation on human GBM explants revealed that anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cells had similar tumor-killing capacity to anti-EGFRvIII CAR monotherapy, but showed a slight improvement in maintenance of tumor-infiltrated CD14+ myeloid cells. Thus, local anti-EGFRvIII-SGRP CAR T cell therapy combines the potent antitumor effect of engineered T cells with the modulation of the surrounding innate immune TME, resulting in the additive elimination of bystander EGFRvIII– tumor cells in a manner that overcomes major mechanisms of CAR T cell therapy resistance, including tumor innate immune suppression and antigen escape.
Targeting the Siglec–sialic acid axis promotes antitumor immune responses in preclinical models of glioblastoma
Science Translational Medicine, 2023 – DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adf5302
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive form of primary brain tumor, for which effective therapies are urgently needed. Cancer cells are capable of evading clearance by phagocytes such as microglia- and monocyte-derived cells through engaging tolerogenic programs. Here, we found that high expression of sialic acid binding immunoglobulin-like lectin 9 (Siglec-9) correlates with reduced survival in patients with GBM. Using microglia and monocyte-derived cell-specific knockouts of Siglec-E, the murine functional homolog of Siglec-9, together with single-cell RNA sequencing, we demonstrated that Siglec-E inhibits phagocytosis by these cells, thereby promoting immune evasion. Loss of Siglec-E on monocyte-derived cells further enhanced antigen cross-presentation and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which resulted in more efficient T cell priming. This bridging of innate and adaptive responses delayed tumor growth and resulted in prolonged survival in murine models of GBM. Furthermore, we showed the combinatorial activity of Siglec-E blockade and other immunotherapies demonstrating the potential for targeting Siglec-9 as a treatment for patients with GBM.
Severe Neuro-COVID is associated with peripheral immune signatures, autoimmunity and neurodegeneration: a prospective cross-sectional study
Nature Communications, 2022 – https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34068-0
Growing evidence links COVID-19 with acute and long-term neurological dysfunction. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms resulting in central nervous system involvement remain unclear, posing both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Here we show outcomes of a cross-sectional clinical study (NCT04472013) including clinical and imaging data and corresponding multidimensional characterization of immune mediators in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma of patients belonging to different Neuro-COVID severity classes. The most prominent signs of severe Neuro-COVID are blood-brain barrier (BBB) impairment, elevated microglia activation markers and a polyclonal B cell response targeting self-antigens and non-self-antigens. COVID-19 patients show decreased regional brain volumes associating with specific CSF parameters, however, COVID-19 patients characterized by plasma cytokine storm are presenting with a non-inflammatory CSF profile. Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome strongly associates with a distinctive set of CSF and plasma mediators. Collectively, we identify several potentially actionable targets to prevent or intervene with the neurological consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Immunotherapy of glioblastoma explants induces interferon-γ responses and spatial immune cell rearrangements in tumor center, but not periphery
Science Advances, 2022 – DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn9440
A patient-tailored, ex vivo drug response platform for glioblastoma (GBM) would facilitate therapy planning, provide insights into treatment-induced mechanisms in the immune tumor microenvironment (iTME), and enable the discovery of biomarkers of response. We cultured regionally annotated GBM explants in perfusion bioreactors to assess iTME responses to immunotherapy. Explants were treated with anti-CD47, anti–PD-1, or their combination, and analyzed by multiplexed microscopy [CO-Detection by indEXing (CODEX)], enabling the spatially resolved identification of >850,000 single cells, accompanied by explant secretome interrogation. Center and periphery explants differed in their cell type and soluble factor composition, and responses to immunotherapy. A subset of explants displayed increased interferon-γ levels, which correlated with shifts in immune cell composition within specified tissue compartments. Our study demonstrates that ex vivo immunotherapy of GBM explants enables an active antitumoral immune response within the tumor center and provides a framework for multidimensional personalized assessment of tumor response to immunotherapy.
Microglia-Centered Combinatorial Strategies Against Glioblastoma
Frontiers Immunology, 2020 – https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.571951
Tumor-associated microglia (MG) and macrophages (MΦ) are important components of the glioblastoma (GBM) immune tumor microenvironment (iTME). From the recent advances in understanding how MG and GBM cells evolve and interact during tumorigenesis, we emphasize the cooperation of MG with other immune cell types of the GBM-iTME, mainly MΦ and T cells. We provide a comprehensive overview of current immunotherapeutic clinical trials and approaches for the treatment of GBM, which in general, underestimate the counteracting contribution of immunosuppressive MG as a main factor for treatment failure. Furthermore, we summarize new developments and strategies in MG reprogramming/re-education in the GBM context, with a focus on ways to boost MG-mediated tumor cell phagocytosis and associated experimental models and methods. This ultimately converges in our proposal of novel combinatorial regimens that locally modulate MG as a central paradigm, and therefore may lead to additional, long-lasting, and effective tumoricidal responses.
Microglia are effector cells of CD47-SIRPα antiphagocytic axis disruption against glioblastoma
PNAS, 2019 – https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721434116
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive malignant brain tumor with fatal outcome. Tumor-associated macrophages and microglia (TAMs) have been found to be major tumor-promoting immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Hence, modulation and reeducation of tumor-associated macrophages and microglia in GBM is considered a promising antitumor strategy. Resident microglia and invading macrophages have been shown to have distinct origin and function. Whereas yolk sac-derived microglia reside in the brain, blood-derived monocytes invade the central nervous system only under pathological conditions like tumor formation. We recently showed that disruption of the SIRPα-CD47 signaling axis is efficacious against various brain tumors including GBM primarily by inducing tumor phagocytosis. However, most effects are attributed to macrophages recruited from the periphery but the role of the brain resident microglia is unknown. Here, we sought to utilize a model to distinguish resident microglia and peripheral macrophages within the GBM-TAM pool, using orthotopically xenografted, immunodeficient, and syngeneic mouse models with genetically color-coded macrophages (Ccr2RFP) and microglia (Cx3cr1GFP). We show that even in the absence of phagocytizing macrophages (Ccr2RFP/RFP), microglia are effector cells of tumor cell phagocytosis in response to anti-CD47 blockade. Additionally, macrophages and microglia show distinct morphological and transcriptional changes. Importantly, the transcriptional profile of microglia shows less of an inflammatory response which makes them a promising target for clinical applications.
