Optimized antiangiogenic reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment potentiates CD40 immunotherapy

AS Kashyap, M Schmittnaegel… - Proceedings of the …, 2020 - National Acad Sciences
AS Kashyap, M Schmittnaegel, N Rigamonti, D Pais-Ferreira, P Mueller, M Buchi, CH Ooi
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020National Acad Sciences
Cancer immunotherapies are increasingly combined with targeted therapies to improve
therapeutic outcomes. We show that combination of agonistic anti-CD40 with antiangiogenic
antibodies targeting 2 proangiogenic factors, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA)
and angiopoietin 2 (Ang2/ANGPT2), induces pleiotropic immune mechanisms that facilitate
tumor rejection in several tumor models. On the one hand, VEGFA/Ang2 blockade induced
regression of the tumor microvasculature while decreasing the proportion of nonperfused …
Cancer immunotherapies are increasingly combined with targeted therapies to improve therapeutic outcomes. We show that combination of agonistic anti-CD40 with antiangiogenic antibodies targeting 2 proangiogenic factors, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and angiopoietin 2 (Ang2/ANGPT2), induces pleiotropic immune mechanisms that facilitate tumor rejection in several tumor models. On the one hand, VEGFA/Ang2 blockade induced regression of the tumor microvasculature while decreasing the proportion of nonperfused vessels and reducing leakiness of the remaining vessels. On the other hand, both anti-VEGFA/Ang2 and anti-CD40 independently promoted proinflammatory macrophage skewing and increased dendritic cell activation in the tumor microenvironment, which were further amplified upon combination of the 2 treatments. Finally, combined therapy provoked brisk infiltration and intratumoral redistribution of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in the tumors, which was mainly driven by Ang2 blockade. Overall, these nonredundant synergistic mechanisms endowed T cells with improved effector functions that were conducive to more efficient tumor control, underscoring the therapeutic potential of antiangiogenic immunotherapy in cancer.
National Acad Sciences