In Situ Therapeutic Cancer Vaccination with an Oncolytic Virus Expressing Membrane-Tethered IL-2

Successful in situ therapeutic vaccination would allow locally delivered oncolytic virus (OV) to exert systemic immunologic effects on metastases and improve survival. We have utilized bilateral flank tumor models to determine the most efficacious regimens of in situ vaccination. Intratumoral injection with membrane-tethered interleukin -2-armed OV (vvDD-mIL2) plus a Toll-like receptor 9 ligand (CpG) yielded systemic immunization and decreased tumor growth in a contralateral, noninjected tumor. Our main aims were to study the tumor immune microenvironment (TME) after vaccination and identify additional immune adjuvants that may improve the systemic tumor-specific immunity. Immunological profiles in the spleen showed an increased CD8(+) T cell/regulatory T cell (Treg) ratio and increased CD11c(+) cells after dual injection in one flank tumor. Concurrently, there was increased infiltration of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)(+)CD8(+) T cells and interferon gamma (IFN-γ)(+)CD4(+) T cells and reduced CTLA-4(+)PD-1(+)CD8(+) T cells in the contralateral, noninjected tumor. The anti-tumoral activity depended on CD8(+) T cells and IFN-γ, but not CD4(+) T cells. Based on the negative immune components still existing in the untreated tumors, we investigated additional adjuvants: clodronate liposome-mediated depletion of macrophages plus anti-PD-1 therapy. This regimen dramatically reduced the tumor burden in the noninjected tumor and increased median survival by 87%, suggesting that inhibition/elimination of suppressive components in the tumor microenvironment (TME) can improve therapeutic outcomes. This study emphasizes the importance of immune profiling to design rational, combined immunotherapy regimens ultimately to impact patient survival.