Slow cycling cell rna based t cell therapy to prevent recurrence in gbm

Abstract Glioblastoma (GBM), the most common primary malignancy of the central nervous system (CNS), is almost universally fatal due to inevitable recurrence despite aggressive therapeutics. Considering the infiltrative nature of GBM, targeting residual cells after surgical tumor resection is challenging. Development of effective novel adjuvant therapies against drivers of disease recurrence is of imperative priority. Anticancer treatments most effectively eliminate rapidly dividing cells but spare dormant or infrequently dividing populations. Multiple studies have reported in numerous cancers the existence of slow-cycling cells (SCCs) that are refractory to therapies. Our laboratory identified SCCs in high-grade glioma, which represents an enriched reservoir of highly infiltrative and treatment-resistant cancer propagating cells known to drive recurrence. An effective approach to specifically eliminate this cell population is urgently required to limit recurrence and improve survival. Importantly, these cells reliably defined a cellular niche characterized by definite potentially immunogenic neoantigens, which can serve as immune targets. Our ultimate goal is to leverage the power of adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) to recognize GBM SCC-derived antigens to achieve robust tumor control through targeting of these critical drivers of recurrence. Our data revealed that dendritic cells electroporated with slow-cycling cell RNA successfully primed T cells to recognize and target glioma treatment resistant cells. These experiments demonstrated that slow cycling cell-specific T cells (SCC-T cells) exhibit enhanced activation when in presence of treatment-resistant tumor cells as shown by increased CD8 differentiation, amplified effector and memory differentiation compared to total tumor RNA-specific T cell and control groups. Additionally, SCC-T cells presented the highest anti-tumor activity, as demonstrated by the greatest decrease of tumor cell proliferation and increase of T cell apoptosis. Together these results demonstrate the efficacy and superiority of SCC-based immunotherapy platform to target treatment-resistant glioblastoma cells.