Peptide-stimulation of autologous T cells reverts immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance of hypermutated colorectal cancer cells

Abstract

Two hypermutated colon cancer cases with patient-derived cell lines, peripheral and tumor-infiltrating T cells available were selected for detailed investigation of immunological response. T cells co-cultured with autologous tumor cells showed only low levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and failed at tumor recognition. Similarly, treatment of co-cultures with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) did not boost antitumor immune responses. Since proteinase inhibitor 9 (PI-9) was detected in tumor cells, a specific inhibitor (PI-9i) was used in addition to ICI in T cell cytotoxicity testing. However, only pre-stimulation with tumor-specific peptides (cryptic and neoantigenic) significantly increased recognition and elimination of tumor cells by T cells independently of ICI or PI-9i. We showed, that ICI resistant tumor cells can be targeted by tumor-primed T cells and also demonstrated the superiority of tumor-naive peripheral blood T cells compared to highly exhausted tumor-infiltrating T cells. Future precision immunotherapeutic approaches should include multimodal strategies to successfully induce durable anti-tumor immune responses.