Purpose Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common form of malignant glioma in adults. Although protected by both the blood brain- and blood tumor-barriers, T cells actively infiltrate GBM. Previous work has shown that IDO, CTLA-4 and PD-L1 are dominant molecular participants in the suppression of GBM immunity. This includes IDO-mediated regulatory T cell (Treg; CD4+CD25+FoxP3+) accumulation, the interaction of T cell-expressed, CTLA-4, with dendritic cell-expressed, CD80, as well as the interaction of tumor- and/or macrophage-expressed, PD-L1, with T cell-expressed, PD-1. The individual inhibition of each pathway has been shown to increase survival in the context of experimental GBM. However, the impact of simultaneously targeting all three pathways in blood tumor-barriers, GBMs are actively infiltrated by T cells. Experimental Design and Results In this report, we demonstrate that, when dually-challenged, IDO-deficient tumors provide a selectively competitive survival advantage against IDO-competent tumors. Next, we provide novel observations regarding tryptophan catabolic enzyme expression, before showing that the therapeutic inhibition of IDO, CTLA-4 and PD-L1 in a mouse model of well-established glioma maximally decreases tumor-infiltrating Tregs, coincident with a significant increase in T cell-mediated long-term survival. In fact, 100% of mice bearing intracranial tumors were long-term survivors following triple combination therapy. The expression and/or frequency of T cell-expressed CD44, CTLA-4, PD-1 and IFN-γ depended on timing after immunotherapeutic administration. Conclusions Collectively, these data provide strong pre-clinical evidence that combinatorially-targeting immunosuppression in malignant glioma is a strategy that has high potential value for future clinical trials in patients with GBM.

Purpose Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive adult brain tumor with a poor prognosis. One hallmark of GBM is the accumulation of immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting CD4+FoxP3+GITR+ regulatory T cells (Tregs). Here, we investigated the role of indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase (IDO) in brain tumors and the impact on Treg recruitment. Experimental Design To determine the clinical relevance of IDO expression in brain tumors, we first correlated patient survival to the level of IDO expression from resected glioma specimens. We also used novel orthotopic and transgenic models of glioma to study how IDO affects Tregs. The impact of tumor-derived and peripheral IDO expression on Treg recruitment, GITR expression and long-term survival was determined. Results Downregulated IDO expression in glioma predicted a significantly better prognosis in patients. Co-incidently, both IDO -competent and -deficient mice showed a survival advantage bearing IDO-deficient brain tumors, when compared to IDO-competent brain tumors. Moreover, IDO-deficiency was associated with a significant decrease in brain-resident Tregs, both in orthotopic and transgenic mouse glioma models. IDO-deficiency was also associated with lower GITR expression levels on Tregs. Interestingly, the long-term survival advantage conferred by IDO-deficiency was lost in T cell-deficient mice. Conclusions These clinical and pre-clinical data confirm that IDO expression increases the recruitment of immunosuppressive Tregs which leads to tumor outgrowth. In contrast, IDO deficiency decreases Treg recruitment and enhances T cell-mediated tumor rejection. Thus, the data suggest a critical role for IDO-mediated immunosuppression in glioma and supports the continued investigation of IDO-Treg interactions in the context of brain tumors.

Monoclonal antibodies can specifically bind or even inhibit drug targets and have hence become the fastest growing class of human therapeutics. Although they can be screened for binding affinities at very high throughput using systems such as phage display, screening for functional properties (e.g., the inhibition of a drug target) is much more challenging. Typically these screens require the generation of immortalized hybridoma cells, as well as clonal expansion in microtiter plates over several weeks, and the number of clones that can be assayed is typically no more than a few thousand. We present here a microfluidic platform allowing the functional screening of up to 300,000 individual hybridoma cell clones within less than a day. This approach should also be applicable to nonimmortalized primary B-cells, as no cell proliferation is required: Individual cells are encapsulated into aqueous microdroplets and assayed directly for the release of antibodies inhibiting a drug target based on fluorescence. We used this system to perform a model screen for antibodies that inhibit angiotensin converting enzyme 1, a target for hypertension and congestive heart failure drugs. When cells expressing these antibodies were spiked into an unrelated hybridoma cell population in a ratio of 1∶10,000 we observed a 9,400-fold enrichment after fluorescence activated droplet sorting. A wide variance in antibody expression levels at the single-cell level within a single hybridoma line was observed and high expressors could be successfully sorted and recultivated.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumor in adults and is virtually incurable with conventional therapies. Immunotherapy with T cells expressing GBM-specific chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) is an attractive approach to improve outcomes. Although CAR T cells targeting GBM antigens, such as IL13 receptor subunit α2 (IL13Rα2), HER2, and EGFR variant III (EGFRvIII), have had antitumor activity in preclinical models, early-phase clinical testing has demonstrated limited antiglioma activity. Transgenic expression of IL15 is an appealing strategy to enhance CAR T-cell effector function. We tested this approach in our IL13Rα2-positive glioma model in which limited IL13Rα2-CAR T-cell persistence results in recurrence of antigen-positive gliomas. T cells were genetically modified with retroviral vectors encoding IL13Rα2-CARs or IL15 (IL13Rα2-CAR.IL15 T cells). IL13Rα2-CAR.IL15 T cells recognized glioma cells in an antigen-dependent fashion, had greater proliferative capacity, and produced more cytokines after repeated stimulations in comparison with IL13Rα2-CAR T cells. No autonomous IL13Rα2-CAR. IL15 T-cell proliferation was observed; however, IL15 expression increased IL13Rα2-CAR T-cell viability in the absence of exogenous cytokines or antigen. In vivo, IL13Rα2-CAR.IL15 T cells persisted longer and had greater antiglioma activity than IL13Rα2-CAR T cells, resulting in a survival advantage. Gliomas recurring after 40 days after T-cell injection had downregulated IL13Rα2 expression, indicating that antigen loss variants occur in the setting of improved T-cell persistence. Thus, CAR T cells for GBM should not only be genetically modified to improve their proliferation and persistence, but also to target multiple antigens.