Wikipedia's tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) page describes TILs as "a type of white blood cell found in tumors." It goes on to say that "TILs are implicated in killing tumor cells. The presence of lymphocytes in tumors is often associated with better clinical outcomes." The National Cancer Institute's Dr. Steve Rosenberg, MD, PhD pioneered the approach of using TILs via adoptive cell transfer (ACT) to treat cancer patients. The American Cancer Society notes that TILs are "immune system cells deep inside some tumors...These T cells can be removed from tumor samples taken from patients and multiplied in the lab by treating them with IL-2. When injected back into the patient, these cells can be active cancer fighters." One company taking this approach of ACT via TILs is Lion Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: LBIO).
Another variation on this concept of ACT is where immune cells originating from a patient's blood (as opposed to his or her tumor) are extracted, altered and put back "with the goal of transferring improved immune functionality and characteristics along with the cells." Peripheral blood T cells are genetically engineered to express tumor-antigen specific T-cell receptors. Companies using this approach include Bluebird Bio (BLUE), Juno Therapeutics (JUNO) and Kite Pharma (KITE).
Autologous (below left) and genetically engineered (below right) ACT are illustrated below from W. Joost Lesterhuis and Cornelis J. A. Punt, “Harnessing the immune system to combat cancer,” 2012, Nature Reviews/Drug Discovery, supplement to Nature Publishing Group Journals.
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Mechanism of action (MOA) would explain how an IL or IT agent destroys an injected lesion or tumor. Immune mechanism of action (IMOA?) or mechanism of immune action (MOIA?) would explain how the IL/IT agent harnesses the immune system to destroy uninjected, distant or so-called bystander lesions or tumors. PV-10's IMOA/MOIA also would be very relevant in the context of combining the IL/IT agent with other immunotherapies.
Provectus' CTO Dr. Eric Wachter, PhD analogizes PV-10's systemic response to fire, smoke and ash —where there's smoke and ash, there also is fire. T cells in the [peripheral] blood is the smoke. Regressed tumors are the ash. TILs are what interested observers want to see; that is, the fire.
From here, travel back to February 2013's Cancer Watch article about PV-10 and Moffitt Cancer Center's IMOA/MOIA work (which began in December 2012 [protocol first received date]) in this regard. The article is entitled "Back to Phase 1: Understanding Systemic Effects of PV-10;" Moffitt's work is entitled Detection of Immune Cell Infiltration Into Melanomas Treated by PV-10, a Feasibility Study (lead investigators: Dr. Amod Sarnaik, MD and Dr. Shari Pilon-Thomas, PhD).
Moffitt's work in mice in 2012, and presented and published in 2013, concluded that IL/IT PV-10 treatment led (after lesions/tumors were injected and then destroyed or shrunk) to a systemic response. The Cancer Watch article noted:
"Seeking an immune cell infiltrate
To find direct evidence of such a systemic immune response is part of the motive behind heading back to the bench—although this time involving human subjects. “A further impetus toward teasing out the precise mechanism of how PV-10 can exert a systemic immune response in patients,” said Dr. Sarnaik in an interview, “is to allow us to rationally combine PV-10 treatment with some of the exciting emerging immunotherapies for metastatic melanoma.”
The focus at Moffitt, Dr. Sarnaik continued, is on discerning the presence of immune cell infiltrate in untreated tumors after PV-10 injections into other lesions. “We are really interested in harnessing immune cell infiltrate as a form of treatment,” he said, noting also that while creating cancer vaccines has been thought of traditionally as one of the Holy Grails of cancer research, cancer vaccines have turned out to be not strong enough to generate an adequate immune response."The article then went on to note {underlined emphasis and inserted commentary is mine}:
"Adoptive cell transfer
The strategy of adoptive cell transfer potentially overcomes the weak vaccine response. With adoptive cell transfer, antigen-specific effector cells are taken from the patient’s tumor and expanded ex vivo under laboratory conditions favoring growth of T-lymphocytes and then re-infused to the patient. This precludes the need to provide antigens or to activate antigen-presenting cells.
ACT via TILs: In melanoma, T-cells from the tumor are cultured from tumor resection specimens in the presence of interleukin-2. ACT via T cell re-engineering: A second strategy infuses peripheral blood T-cells that have been genetically engineered to express tumor-antigen specific T-cell receptors.
While adoptive cell transfer offers the advantage that enough T cells can be obtained for infusion in all patients, the T-cell receptors transfected into the T cells have a limited antigen-specificity. The strategy works, Dr. Sarnaik said, only about half the time. “We generate large numbers of T-lymphocytes, but we don’t have control over their quality.
We think one of the limitations is that the T cells you get out of the tumor just aren’t good enough.” PV-10, however, does cause an immune response, suggesting that a combination treatment may improve the quality of the T-lymphocytes and have a greater impact on the disease.
When Shari Pilon-Thomas, PhD, also a Moffitt researcher, demonstrated that T-lymphocytes recovered from mice treated with PV-10 do appear to be of a higher quality, as evidenced by stronger tumor reactivity, the stage was set for Dr. Sarnaik’s current 15-patient pilot study. In it, one of two resectable melanoma tumors is injected with PV-10. Both are removed several weeks later. Serum is assessed before and after treatment to look for changes in the infiltration of immune cells. In patients with an immune response, PV-10 therapy can be continued."Unfortunately, Moffitt's IMOA/MOIA/combination therapy relevancy work was waylaid because PV-10 worked too well — both injected and uninjected lesions or tumors were destroyed too well (pathologic complete response [pCR]) and too quickly (sooner than the study protocol patient biopsy period of 7-14 days post-PV-10 injection).
In April 2014 at AACR, Dr. Pilon-Thomas noted about their human work up to that point (the poster was not released by either Moffitt or Provectus, see the company's press release here):
Too quickly, and "smoke:" "These data are exciting and illustrate successful translation of our pre-clinical work in mice to clinical results in melanoma patients. With only 8 patients we've been able to clearly observe statistically significant increases in beneficial T cell populations in peripheral blood. Ironically, the original aim of the trial to assess tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes was thwarted when biopsies of patient tumors collected just 7-14 days after PV-10 injection no longer contained viable tumor tissue. We are following up both the human data and continuing to design more experiments in mice to better explain the systemic immune effects elicited by PV-10 ablation."In June 2014 at ASCO, Moffitt further noted:
Too well, and "ash:" "Treatment with IL PV-10 led to pCR in the post-treatment biopsies of both PV10-injected and uninjected study lesions in 4 of the 8 patients, and all 8 exhibited at least partial regression of the injected lesion."Really, ironically, some of the injected and uninjected going away too quickly in Moffitt's work is reminiscent of Provectus' metastatic melanoma Phase 2 trial, and Eric's argument to the FDA to grant PV-10 breakthrough therapy designation for PV-10 in patients (who would have all of their disease treated) with locally advanced cutaneous melanoma:
"Because of the lack of requirements for patients to have pain symptoms upon enrollment, only a small fraction of patients had clinically significant pain at baseline. So, we analyzed those patients, uh, and presented them that analysis of those data in context of the objective response data. We found that there was a strong relationship between the two types of data, that there was simply not enough of the symptomatic, or symptomology data to show a statistical function. I have to conclude that that’s the principal basis for the rejection of the application. I'd say that it was our assumption going into the application that improvement in symptoms, if we made the patient’s symptoms go away was tantamount to -- I’m sorry -- if we make the patient’s lesions go away that’s tantamount to making the patient’s symptoms of that disease go away. We don’t seem to have been successful in convincing the Agency of that."Nevertheless, Moffitt found, in humans, smoke — T cells in peripheral blood — and ash — regressed tumors.
The Cancer Watch article went on to note:
"“This is a straightforward study that will give a yes or no answer,” Dr. Sarnaik said.
If the hypothesis that PV-10 will produce a better immune cell infiltrate is borne out, that would justify testing of combination treatments, Dr. Sarniak said. Likely candidates are adoptive cell therapy, approved drugs like ipilimumab that boost immune response, or PD-1- blocking antibodies (none approved yet)."Moffitt should have found, in humans, the fire, presumably through the following 7 patients of their originally planned 15-patient study. In November 2015 at SITC they showed they found more smoke: "Increased tumor-specific response was found from those circulating T cells of 5 out of 7 tested patients after IL RB treatment."
The Cancer Watch article concluded:
"What kind of therapy is PV-10?
Echoing Dr. Sarnaik, Eric Wachter, PhD, Provectus chief technology officer, said that he hopes that the findings of Dr. Sarnaik’s study will point toward rational judgments about combining PV-10 with other documented therapies. “We then might want to try two or more orthogonal therapies to stress tumor cells from several different angles simultaneously, for example an immune therapy plus a metabolic therapy (e.g., a kinase inhibitor), or in a rationally designed sequence.” In a hepatocellular carcinoma model, he added, PV-10 showed significant potential for synergy with 5-fluorouracil. Provectus recently initiated clinical testing of PV-10 with the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib, again bringing in two therapies with divergent mechanisms of action.
Which category does PV-10 fall into? “I think we are getting a clearer picture of how it might be classified, but it has features of several previously unrelated categories, such as of adoptive cell transfer and vaccination,” Dr. Wachter said. “PV-10 initially reduces tumor burden through chemoablation—but then activates the immune system bringing in capacities completely orthogonal to the ablative tumor destruction,” he added."
“Amod Sarnaik’s work may give us the molecular basis for closing the loop on one of the founding concepts for going into the clinic in the first place,” Dr. Wachter commented. “Back in the preclinical days at Provectus, Craig Dees, PhD, theorized that ablation of tumors with PV-10 might lead to unmasking of tumor antigenic material. I don’t think he anticipated that it would work as well as it does.”
