Abstract 2722: Active recruitment of immune effector cells mediates in vivo tumor growth inhibition by enavatuzumab, an antibody to human TWEAK receptor

Abstract

Abstract Enavatuzumab (PDL192) is a humanized anti-TWEAK receptor antibody currently under clinical evaluation for the treatment of solid malignancies. Enavatuzumab is postulated to exert its potent anti-tumor activity in xenograft models through two distinct mechanisms of action: direct inhibition of tumor cell growth and Fc-mediated function. The goal of this study was to elucidate the role of immune effector cells in Fc-mediated function. The initial evidence for a role of effector cells was obtained in a subset of tumor xenograft mouse models which responded to enavatuzumab but did not respond to a version of enavatuzumab containing a mutation in the FcαRIII binding region. Subsequent analysis of circulating effector cells showed increased expression of activation markers DX5 and CD27 on monocyte-like cells (CD45+CD11bHigh) and DX5 on NK-like cells (CD45+CD11bLow) after enavatuzumab treatment in xenograft models dependent on Fc-FcR interactions for enavatuzumab efficacy. The involvement of effector cells was further confirmed by immunohistochemistry, which revealed strong infiltration of CD45+ effector cells into tumor xenografts in responding models, but minimal infiltration in non-responders. Consistent with the in vivo xenograft studies, human effector cells migrated towards enavatuzumab-treated tumor cells in vitro. Effector cells preferentially migrated toward in vivo responsive tumor cells, and the majority of migratory cells were monocytes and NK cells. Conditioned media from enavatuzumab-treated tumor cells also induced migration, and contained elevated levels of cytokines/chemokines, including IL8 and MCP-1. The presence of an anti-MCP-1 neutralizing antibody in enavatuzumab-treated tumor cell conditioned medium significantly blocked effector cell migration, suggesting that MCP-1 might be responsible for effector cell migration triggered by enavatuzumab. We also observed elevated levels of human MCP-1 in the serum of both enavatuzumab-treated xenograft mouse models and in a subset of patients from the enavatuzumab Phase I clinical study. In summary, in vivo and in vitro studies suggest that enavatuzumab exerts its potent anti-tumor activity, in part, by actively recruiting effector cells and activating effectors to kill tumor cells. In addition, enavatuzumab-induced chemokines may be potential pharmacodynamic biomarkers and warrant further evaluation in clinical studies. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2722. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2722