Immunotherapies prime or activate patient’s immune system to fight disease and has recently been a source of registered and promising new cancer treatments with major beneficial clinical outcomes in several cancers. However, by increasing the activity of the immune system, therapies as such targeting the immune checkpoint blockade can have profound inflammatory side effects, termed immune-related adverse events, with particular organs affected such as gastrointestinal tract, endocrine glands, skin and liver. In patients treated with the anti-CTLA-4 antibody, Ipilimumab, the overall incidence of diarrhea and colitis has been reported as 32.8%. This side effect is also observed in patients treated with anti-PD-1 therapy. The reproduction of such aspects of immune checkpoint inhibitors side effects in preclinical animal models would serve to dig into deciphering mechanisms involved, but also to evaluate combination therapies and modalities to reduce and manage such incidence with potential beneficial translation in clinical practice. We thus first ought to establish a checkpoint blockade-related autoimmune mouse model of colitis, using female C57BL/6 mice which were tested to determine their response to orally administered dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) combined to multiple injections of anti-CTLA-4 antibody or an isotype control antibody. After administration of DSS in drinking water for 7 days, mice that received an anti-CTLA-4 antibody showed no difference in body weight loss and Disease Activity Index (composite of body weight loss, stool consistency and presence of blood in stools), when compared to mice that received DSS plus the isotype control antibody. Histological sections analysis from the colons of mice culled at Day 10 confirmed that the combined treatment did not change the colitis score.However, when looking at later time points corresponding to the usual recovery phase of colitis, the effect of anti-CTLA4 treatment was clearly revealed by a sustained body weight loss and the persistence of a high Disease Activity Index, while the isotype control-treated animals slowly returned to baseline values similar to untreated animals. At sacrifice on Day 19, these in life findings were confirmed by a decrease in colon length (- 0.94 cm), an increase in colon weight (+ 231 mg) and a high mucus colon production in the anti-CTLA4-treated group versus the isotype control-treated group. Histological analysis of colons, and a more in depth characterization of the immune infiltrates will be presented. Citation Format: Edwige Nicodeme, Florence Blandel, Valerie Boullay, Yannick Saintillan, Gael Krysa, Anne-Benedicte Boullay, Jean-Jacques Tousaint, Robin Artus, Laure Levenez, Jeremy Odillard, Ingrid Jacquet, Olivier Duchamp, Fabrice Viviani. Immune checkpoint blockade and autoimmune diseases: Development of a mouse model of colitis induced by anti-CTLA-4 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3228.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death and accounts for over 80% of primary liver cancer worldwide. Early stage HCC can be treated by local ablation, surgical resection or liver transplantation. Systemic pharmacological options are limited (kinase and immune-checkpoint inhibitors). Most cases of liver cancer occur in the setting of chronic liver diseases. Risk factors include chronic Hepatitis B and C, alcohol addiction and metabolic diseases. HCC is a multistep process comprising chronic liver injury, inflammation, fibrosis/cirrhosis and cancer formation. Therefore, providing palliative and curative options remains a high medical need. And with the recent success of immunotherapies in HCC, mouse models that better recapitulate the human disease and antitumor immune response are needed. In order to better evaluate new preventive and curative treatments of liver cancers we developed complementary and integrated strategies to mimic the liver cancer initiation and progression steps in mouse models. These models involve chemotoxic agents, diet-induced disorders and syngeneic or xenogeneic tumor implantation strategies. We established an orthotopic syngeneic model using Hepa1.6 mouse liver hepatoma cells, characterized through liver index, alpha-fetoprotein measurement in serum and liver, and MRI. The response to chemotherapy (sorafenib) and immunotherapy (anti PD-1, anti-TLR) was also assessed and show moderate to high efficiency. Moreover, a panel of xenograft models including Patient-Derived Xenograft models (PDXs) are available to assess new treatment options in human HCC with regards of the genetic mutations and the variety of etiologies seen in human. But as xenograft models are not completely mimicking the human situation of both immune and liver microenvironment, we have recently initiated the development of a double humanized (immune and liver) transgenic mouse as a better host for human tumor engraftment. During the course of HCC formation, the liver undergoes cycles of inflammation, necrosis with regeneration, fibrosis, cell dysplasia and ultimately HCC. Thus, we developed a model induced by a low dose of streptozotocin and high fat diet regimen. In this model, mice develop metabolic syndrome NASH and fibrosis within 12 weeks and HCC within 16 weeks. Of interest, 100% of male mice develop HCC within 16 weeks, in accordance with studies showing that men had a 2-to 7-fold higher risk of developing HCC in human. Treatment of mice with lenvatinib alone or in combination with anti-PD1 increases survival and reduces tumor burden as shown with reduced liver weight/body weight ratio at 16 weeks. Altogether, these results demonstrate the usefulness of this comprehensive platform of preclinical in vivo HCC models to discover and identify novel therapeutic strategies that could circumvent the progression of liver cancers. Citation Format: Olivier Duchamp, Gael Krysa, Loic Morgand, Hugo Quillery, Robin Artus, Maxime Ramelet, Jeremy Odillard, Peggy Provent, Sylvie Maubant, Caroline Mignard, Fabrice Viviani, Samira Benhamouche-Trouillet. Mouse models of hepatocellular carcinoma: A comprehensive and functional preclinical platform for immunotherapy research [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1654.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death and accounts for >80% of primary liver cancer worldwide. Early stage HCC can be treated by local ablation, surgical resection or liver transplantation. Systemic pharmacological options are limited and only a few available (kinase and immune-checkpoint inhibitors). Most cases of liver cancer occur in the setting of chronic liver diseases. Risk factors include chronic Hepatitis B and C, alcohol addiction and metabolic diseases. HCC is a multistep process comprising chronic liver injury, inflammation, fibrosis/cirrhosis and cancer formation. Therefore, providing palliative and curative options remains a high medical need. In order to better evaluate new preventive and curative treatments of liver cancers we developed complementary and integrated strategies to mimic the liver cancer initiation and progression steps in mouse models. These models involve chemotoxic agents, diet-induced disorders and implantation strategies. We first established an orthotopic syngeneic model using Hepa1.6 mouse liver hepatoma cells. Hepa1.6-derived tumor growth was characterized through liver index, alpha-fetoprotein measurement in serum and liver, and MRI. The response to chemotherapy (Sorafenib) and immunotherapy (anti PD-1) was also assessed. Moreover, a panel of Patient-Derived Xenograft models (PDXs) are available to assess new treatment options in human HCC with regards of the genetic mutations and the variety of etiologies seen in human. During the course of HCC formation, the liver undergoes cycles of inflammation, necrosis with regeneration, fibrosis, cell dysplasia and ultimately HCC. Thus, we developed two models of non- alcoholic steato-hepatitis (NASH); The first model involves chronic administration of hepatotoxic CCL4 associated with a high-fat and high-fructose diet. Mice develop steatohepatitis and fibrosis within 4 to 8 weeks as assessed with biochemistry parameters (AST, ALT…), gene expression levels of inflammatory and fibrotic genes as well as histological scores and MRI. The effect of obeticholic acid was successfully evaluated in this model. The second model is the STAM model induced by a low dose of Streptozotocin and high fat diet regimen. In this model, mice develop metabolic syndrome (increased body weight gain, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia), NASH (steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis) within 12 weeks and HCC within 16 weeks. The responses to standard of care and to immunotherapy together with the characterization of the immune cell populations are currently under investigation. Altogether, these results demonstrate the usefulness of this liver diseases development program to discover and identify new treatments that could circumvent the progression of liver cancer. Citation Format: Olivier Duchamp, Gael Krysa, Robin Artus, Hugo Quillery, Maxime Ramelet, Valerie Boullay, Laure Levenez, Adelaide Ferment, Jeremy Odillard, Anne-Benedict Boullay, Peggy Provent, Edwige Nicodeme, Samira Benhamouche-Trouillet, Anne Lazzari, Loic Morgand. Liver preclinical models - acute, chronic and cancer models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5638.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.