Abstract A68: Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibition modulates surgery-induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells to reduce postoperative metastatic disease

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: Cancer surgery while necessary for primary tumor removal, has been shown to induce immune suppression and promote metastases in preclinical models and human cancer surgery patients. Activating the immune system and reversing immunosuppression have emerged as promising ways to treat cancer and they can be safely employed in the perioperative period. In this study, we evaluated the immunotherapeutic potential of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) inhibitors to target surgery-induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and restore natural killer (NK) cell function in the clinically relevant perioperative period. Experimental Design: Immunocompetent mice tumor models of major surgery were used to characterize the functional suppression of surgery-induced MDSC and to assess the in vivo efficacy of perioperative PDE5 inhibition. In cancer surgery patients with abdominal malignancies, we assessed NK cell function following co-culture with MDSC and PDE5 inhibition. Results: Perioperative PDE5 inhibition reverses surgery-induced immunosuppression. In particular, sildenafil reduces surgery-derived granulocytic-MDSC (gMDSC) function through downregulation of arginase 1 (ARG1), IL4Rα; and reactive oxygen species (ROS) expression, enabling NK cell antitumor cytotoxicity and reducing postoperative disease recurrence. By removing surgery-derived immunosuppressive mechanisms on MDSC, sildenafil synergizes with the administration of perioperative influenza vaccination to reduce postoperative metastasis. Importantly, sildenafil reverses MDSC suppression in cancer surgery patients. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that PDE5 inhibitors reduce postoperative metastasis by their ability to inhibit surgery-induced MDSC. Further clinical studies are warranted to investigate the immunotherapeutic role of PDE5 inhibitors in combination with cancer surgery. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Lee-Hwa Tai, Almohanad A. Alkayyal, Katherine E. Baxter, Leonard Angka, Mike Kennedy, Christiano Tanese de Souza, Rebecca C. Auer. Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibition modulates surgery-induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells to reduce postoperative metastatic disease. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2016 Oct 20-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2017;5(3 Suppl):Abstract nr A68.