Abstract 2966: Senescent cancer cell vaccines induce cytotoxic T cell responses targeting primary tumors and disseminated tumor cells

• Published in: Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) Vol. 84; no. 6_Supplement; p. 2966
• Main Authors: Liu, Yue, Pagacz, Joanna, Wolfgeher, Donald J., Kron, Stephen J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 22-03-2024
• ISSN: 1538-7445; 1538-7445
• DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.AM2024-2966

Diverse conventional cancer therapies, including genotoxic agents and cell cycle or cell division-targeting drugs, can trigger cancer cell senescence. Senescent cells (SnCs) induced by cancer therapy often display unrepaired chromosomal damage but persist indefinitely. SnCs remain metabolically active and display distinct alterations in transcription, secretion, and membrane protein expression/presentation. While initially viewed as a favorable outcome and likely tumor-suppressive mechanism, therapy-induced senescence has more recently been recognized as contributing to resistance, recurrence and metastasis. Adverse effects may be mediated in part by release of inflammatory mediators as components of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Recent studies have argued for reconsidering the potential benefits of therapy-induced senescence, especially in modulating the tumor microenvironment to potentiate anti-tumor immunity and potentiate immunotherapy. We have explored the potential for SnCs to serve as vaccines, building upon prior findings where we demonstrated the immunogenic senescence triggered by the combination of ionizing radiation (IR) and the PARP1/2 inhibitor veliparib. We find that SnCs are avidly taken up by type I conventional, CD11c+/CD103+ dendritic cells (DCs), promoting their activation and maturation. Thereby, SnCs promote DC function in T cell priming and stimulation. The capacity of SnCs to activate DCs depends on how the SnCs are formed, with our results confirming IR+veliparib induces high immunogenicity and implicating a distinct SASP in these effects. On the other hand, blocking STING signaling limits SnC activation of DCs. In vivo experiments with the murine tumor models CT26 and 4T1 suggest that both SnCs and SnC-pulsed DCs serve as effective anti-tumor vaccines. They not only confer protective immunity against tumor engraftment but also act as therapeutic vaccines, inhibiting both primary and disseminated tumor growth, and synergize with radiotherapy and immune checkpoint blockade. While direct administration of tumor-derived SnCs to patients may raise safety concerns, pulsing autologous DCs with tumor SnCs may help drive anti-tumor immune response, offering a promising path toward personalized cancer immunotherapy.
Citation Format: Yue Liu, Joanna Pagacz, Donald J. Wolfgeher, Stephen J. Kron. Senescent cancer cell vaccines induce cytotoxic T cell responses targeting primary tumors and disseminated tumor cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 2966.