An immunogenic first-in-human immune modulatory vaccine with PD-L1 and PD-L2 peptides is feasible and shows early signs of efficacy in follicular lymphoma

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Cells in the tumor microenvironment of Follicular lymphoma (FL) express checkpoint molecules such as programmed death ligands 1 and 2 (PD-L1 and PD-L2) and are suppressing anti-tumor immune activity. Stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with PD-L1 (IO103) or PD-L2 (IO120) peptides can activate specific T cells inducing anti-regulatory functions including cytotoxicity against PD-L1/PD-L2-expressing cells. In this study, we vaccinated eight FL patients with PD-L1 and PD-L2 peptides following treatment with standard chemotherapy. Patients experienced grade 1–2 injection site reaction (5/8) and mild flu-like symptoms (6/8). One patient experienced neutropenia and thrombocytopenia during pseudo-progression. Enzyme-linked immunospot detected vaccine-specific immune responses in PBMC from all patients, predominately toward PD-L1. The circulating immune composition was stable during treatment; however, we observed a reduction regulatory T cells, however, not significant. One patient achieved a complete remission during vaccination and two patients had pseudo-progression followed by long-term disease regression. Further examination of these early signs of clinical efficacy of the dual-epitope vaccine in a larger study is warranted.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1975889
JournalOncoImmunology
Volume10
Issue number1
ISSN2162-4011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

    Research areas

  • anti-regulatory T cells, anti-tregs, follicular lymphoma, immune modulatory vaccine, PD-l1, PD-l2

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