<p>Development of effective second-line treatment options for patients with <i>BRAF</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup><i>NRAS</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup> or <i>BRAF</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup><i>NRAS</i><sup><i>mut</i></sup> melanoma resistant to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is crucial. While systemic delivery of agonist CD40 (aCD40) plus anti-PD1 (αPD1) showed activity in patients with ICB-resistant melanoma, the objective response rate was modest (15%), in part due to induction of B regulatory cells (Bregs) which suppress CD8<sup>+</sup> effector T cell responses. We previously reported that RAS/RAF/PI3K-inhibition elevates CD40 expression in melanoma cells and sensitizes tumors to ICB. Here, we show that combined treatment with a RAS/PI3K/AKT-pathway inhibitor rigosertib (RGS), and/or a MEK1/2 inhibitor trametinib (T), plus aCD40, overcomes the ICB resistance of <i>BRAF</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup><i>NRAS</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup> <i>and BRAF</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup><i>NRAS</i><sup><i>mut</i></sup> melanoma tumors growing in C57BL/6 mice. In addition, overexpression of CD40 in these melanoma cells effectively reverses ICB-resistance and aCD40 + αPD1 treatment induces tumor regression. Mechanistically, RGS + T suppress aCD40-associated CD11b<sup>+</sup>PD-L1<sup>+</sup> Bregs, promoting CD8<sup>+</sup> T-cell mediated killing in melanoma. scRNA-Seq analyses confirm CD40-associated CD11b<sup>+</sup> Bregs across cancer types in patients. Our data demonstrate that addition of RAS/PI3K/AKT and MEK inhibitors to aCD40 resolves the issue of aCD40 induction of CD11b<sup>+</sup>PD-L1<sup>+</sup> Bregs and provides alternative therapeutic options for ICB-resistant <i>BRAF</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup><i>NRAS</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup> or <i>BRAF</i><sup><i>wt</i></sup><i>NRAS</i><sup><i>mut</i></sup> metastatic melanoma.</p>

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RAS/MEK/PI3K pathway inhibition augments response to CD40 agonism by targeting CD11b+ Bregs thereby overcoming melanoma PD1-resistance

  • Chi Yan,
  • Weifeng Luo,
  • Jinming Yang,
  • Jing Yang,
  • Sheau-Chiann Chen,
  • Kensey Bergdorf,
  • Qianni Hu,
  • Vivian L. Weiss,
  • Douglas B. Johnson,
  • Qi Liu,
  • Ann Richmond

摘要

Development of effective second-line treatment options for patients with BRAFwtNRASwt or BRAFwtNRASmut melanoma resistant to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is crucial. While systemic delivery of agonist CD40 (aCD40) plus anti-PD1 (αPD1) showed activity in patients with ICB-resistant melanoma, the objective response rate was modest (15%), in part due to induction of B regulatory cells (Bregs) which suppress CD8+ effector T cell responses. We previously reported that RAS/RAF/PI3K-inhibition elevates CD40 expression in melanoma cells and sensitizes tumors to ICB. Here, we show that combined treatment with a RAS/PI3K/AKT-pathway inhibitor rigosertib (RGS), and/or a MEK1/2 inhibitor trametinib (T), plus aCD40, overcomes the ICB resistance of BRAFwtNRASwt and BRAFwtNRASmut melanoma tumors growing in C57BL/6 mice. In addition, overexpression of CD40 in these melanoma cells effectively reverses ICB-resistance and aCD40 + αPD1 treatment induces tumor regression. Mechanistically, RGS + T suppress aCD40-associated CD11b+PD-L1+ Bregs, promoting CD8+ T-cell mediated killing in melanoma. scRNA-Seq analyses confirm CD40-associated CD11b+ Bregs across cancer types in patients. Our data demonstrate that addition of RAS/PI3K/AKT and MEK inhibitors to aCD40 resolves the issue of aCD40 induction of CD11b+PD-L1+ Bregs and provides alternative therapeutic options for ICB-resistant BRAFwtNRASwt or BRAFwtNRASmut metastatic melanoma.