Abstract 1853: Microparticle-delivered Cxcl9 prolongs Braf inhibitor efficacy in melanoma

Abstract

Abstract Patients with BRAF-mutant melanoma show significant responses to combined BRAF and MEK inhibition, but most patients relapse within 2 years. A major reservoir for such drug resistance is minimal residual disease (MRD), which is comprised of drug-tolerant tumor cells laying in a dormant state. Towards exploiting potential therapeutic vulnerabilities of MRD, we established a genetically engineered mouse model of BrafV600E-driven melanoma MRD wherein genetic BrafV600E extinction leads to strong but incomplete tumor regression. Transcriptional time-course analysis of tumors after BrafV600E extinction revealed that after an initial surge of immune activation, tumors later became immunologically "cold" after MRD establishment. Computational analysis identified candidate T-cell recruiting chemokines that may be central players in the process, being strongly upregulated initially and then steeply decreasing as the immune response faded. As a result, we hypothesized that sustaining the chemokine signaling could impair MRD maintenance through increased recruitment of effector T-cells. We show that intratumoral administration of recombinant Cxcl9, either naked or loaded in microparticles, significantly impaired the relapse of MRD in BRAF-inhibited tumors, including several complete pathological responses after the triple combination of microparticle-delivered rCxcl9 with BRAF and MEK-inhibition. Our experiments constitute a proof of concept that chemokine-based microparticle delivery systems are a potential strategy to forestall tumor relapse and thus improve the clinical success of frontline treatment methods. Citation Format: Gabriele Romano, Francesca Paradiso, Peng Li, Pooja Shukla3, Lindsay Barger, Olivia El Naggar, John P. Miller, Roger J. Liang, Timothy L. Helms, Jennifer A. Wargo, Francesca Taraballi, James C. Costello, Lawrence N. Kwong. Microparticle-delivered Cxcl9 prolongs Braf inhibitor efficacy in melanoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1853.