Cross-linking of T cell to B cell lymphoma by the T cell bispecific antibody CD20-TCB induces IFNγ/CXCL10-dependent peripheral T cell recruitment in humanized murine model

PLoS One. 2021 Jan 6;16(1):e0241091. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241091. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL) are a highly heterogeneous subtype of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), accounting for about 25% of NHL. Despite an increased progression-free survival upon therapy, 40-50% of patients develop relapse/refractory disease, therefore there remains an important medical need. T cell recruiting therapies, such as the CD20xCD3 T cell bi-specific antibody CD20-TCB (RG6026 or glofitamab), represent a novel approach to target all stages of DLBCL, especially those that fail to respond to multiple lines of treatment. We aimed for a better understanding of the molecular features related to the mode of action (MoA) of CD20-TCB in inducing Target/T cell synapse formation and human T cell recruitment to the tumor. To directly evaluate the correlation between synapse, cytokine production and anti-tumor efficacy using CD20-TCB, we developed an innovative preclinical human DLBCL in vivo model that allowed tracking in vivo human T cell dynamics by multiphoton intravital microscopy (MP-IVM). By ex vivo and in vivo approaches, we revealed that CD20-TCB is inducing strong and stable synapses between human T cell and tumor cells, which are dependent on the dose of CD20-TCB and on LFA-1 activity but not on FAS-L. Moreover, despite CD20-TCB being a large molecule (194.342 kDa), we observed that intra-tumor CD20-TCB-mediated human T cell-tumor cell synapses occur within 1 hour upon CD20-TCB administration. These tight interactions, observed for at least 72 hours post TCB administration, result in tumor cell cytotoxicity, resident T cell proliferation and peripheral blood T cell recruitment into tumor. By blocking the IFNγ-CXCL10 axis, the recruitment of peripheral T cells was abrogated, partially affecting the efficacy of CD20-TCB treatment which rely only on resident T cell proliferation. Altogether these data reveal that CD20-TCB's anti-tumor activity relies on a triple effect: i) fast formation of stable T cell-tumor cell synapses which induce tumor cytotoxicity and cytokine production, ii) resident T cell proliferation and iii) recruitment of fresh peripheral T cells to the tumor core to allow a positive enhancement of the anti-tumor effect.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Bispecific / pharmacology*
  • Antigens, CD20 / immunology*
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Chemokine CXCL10 / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Interferon-gamma / immunology*
  • Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / drug therapy
  • Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / immunology*
  • Mice
  • Neoplasm Proteins / immunology*
  • Neoplasms, Experimental / drug therapy
  • Neoplasms, Experimental / immunology*
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Bispecific
  • Antigens, CD20
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological
  • CXCL10 protein, human
  • Chemokine CXCL10
  • IFNG protein, human
  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Interferon-gamma

Grants and funding

All authors of this manuscript are employees of Roche, which funded the study. The funder provided support in the form of salaries for the authors, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.