Table of Contents

Research Articles

• Research Articles

  The Nonsignaling Extracellular Spacer Domain of Chimeric Antigen Receptors Is Decisive for In Vivo Antitumor Activity

  Michael Hudecek, Daniel Sommermeyer, Paula L. Kosasih, Anne Silva-Benedict, Lingfeng Liu, Christoph Rader, Michael C. Jensen and Stanley R. Riddell

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 125-135; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0127

  
  

  Hudecek, Sommermeyer, and colleagues show that modifications of the length and composition of the extracellular spacer of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that abrogate its binding to Fc receptors can prevent off-target activation of CAR T cells and enhance their antitumor efficacy.

• Research Articles | AuthorChoice

  Tasquinimod Modulates Suppressive Myeloid Cells and Enhances Cancer Immunotherapies in Murine Models

  Li Shen, Anette Sundstedt, Michael Ciesielski, Kiersten Marie Miles, Mona Celander, Remi Adelaiye, Ashley Orillion, Eric Ciamporcero, Swathi Ramakrishnan, Leigh Ellis, Robert Fenstermaker, Scott I. Abrams, Helena Eriksson, Tomas Leanderson, Anders Olsson and Roberto Pili

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 136-148; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0036

  
  

  Shen, Sundstedt, and colleagues show in murine models that tasquinimod enhanced the antitumor effects of SurVaxM tumor vaccine for prostate cancer and of 5T4Fab-SEA tumor-targeted superantigen for melanoma by inhibiting the accumulation and function of tumor-infiltrating suppressive myeloid cells.

• Research Articles | AuthorChoice

  Combination of 4-1BB Agonist and PD-1 Antagonist Promotes Antitumor Effector/Memory CD8 T Cells in a Poorly Immunogenic Tumor Model

  Shihao Chen, Li-Fen Lee, Timothy S. Fisher, Bart Jessen, Mark Elliott, Winston Evering, Kathryn Logronio, Guang Huan Tu, Konstantinos Tsaparikos, Xiaoai Li, Hui Wang, Chi Ying, Mengli Xiong, Todd VanArsdale and John C. Lin

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 149-160; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0118

  
  

  Chen, Lee, and colleagues compared the antitumor activity of anti-PD-1 in combination with anti-4-1BB versus with anti-LAG-3 and showed in syngeneic, poorly immunogenic mouse tumor models that the combination with anti-4-1BB elicited superior and well-tolerated tumor inhibition that did not require vaccine.

• Research Articles

  Extensive Profiling of the Expression of the Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase 1 Protein in Normal and Tumoral Human Tissues

  Ivan Théate, Nicolas van Baren, Luc Pilotte, Pierre Moulin, Pierre Larrieu, Jean-Christophe Renauld, Caroline Hervé, Ilse Gutierrez-Roelens, Etienne Marbaix, Christine Sempoux and Benoît J. Van den Eynde

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 161-172; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0137

  
  

  Théate, van Baren, and colleagues used a highly specific antibody to characterize IDO1 expression in a large series of healthy and tumoral human tissues to facilitate the selection of appropriate tumor types for pharmacologic IDO1 inhibition and to anticipate possible side effects of this treatment.

• Research Articles

  Afucosylated Antibodies Increase Activation of FcγRIIIa-Dependent Signaling Components to Intensify Processes Promoting ADCC

  Scot D. Liu, Cecile Chalouni, Judy C. Young, Teemu T. Junttila, Mark X. Sliwkowski and John B. Lowe

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 173-183; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0125

  
  

  Liu and colleagues show that afucosylated antibodies potentiate ADCC by increasing the cytotoxic rate and number of NK cells capable of killing multiple targets, which results from increased affinity between antibodies and FcγRIIIa to enhance activation of signaling molecules that promote cytoskeletal rearrangement and degranulation.

• Research Articles | AuthorChoice

  B7-H4 Expression by Nonhematopoietic Cells in the Tumor Microenvironment Promotes Antitumor Immunity

  Ramtin Rahbar, Albert Lin, Magar Ghazarian, Helen-Loo Yau, Sangeetha Paramathas, Philipp A. Lang, Anita Schildknecht, Alisha R. Elford, Carlos Garcia-Batres, Bernard Martin, Hal K. Berman, Wey L. Leong, David R. McCready, Michael Reedijk, Susan J. Done, Naomi Miller, Bruce Youngson, Woong-Kyung Suh, Tak W. Mak and Pamela S. Ohashi

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 184-195; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0113

  
  

  Rahbar and colleagues show that B7-H4 promotes antitumor immunity against mouse mammary cancer and insulinomas and that its expression levels correlate with those of MHC class I in mouse and human tumors; high B7-H4 expression is associated with improved recurrence-free survival in breast cancer patients.

• Research Articles

  Cell-free Tumor Microparticle Vaccines Stimulate Dendritic Cells via cGAS/STING Signaling

  Huafeng Zhang, Ke Tang, Yi Zhang, Ruihua Ma, Jingwei Ma, Yong Li, Shunqun Luo, Xiaoyu Liang, Tiantian Ji, Zhichao Gu, Jinzhi Lu, Wei He, Xuetao Cao, Yonghong Wan and Bo Huang

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 196-205; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0177

  
  

  Zhang, Tang, Zhang, and colleagues report that wide-spectrum antitumor immunity from vaccination with tumor microparticles (T-MP) or T-MP–loaded dendritic cells (DC) is mediated by the cGAS/STING DNA-sensing innate immune pathway and production of type I IFN, which promotes DC maturation and tumor-antigen presentation.

• Research Articles

  Safety of Targeting ROR1 in Primates with Chimeric Antigen Receptor–Modified T Cells

  Carolina Berger, Daniel Sommermeyer, Michael Hudecek, Michael Berger, Ashwini Balakrishnan, Paulina J. Paszkiewicz, Paula L. Kosasih, Christoph Rader and Stanley R. Riddell

  Cancer Immunol Res February 1 2015 3 (2) 206-216; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-14-0163

  
  

  Berger and colleagues adoptively transferred autologous ROR1 chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR-T) cells into nonhuman primates to demonstrate the safety, persistence, and function of ROR1 CAR-T cells in vivo, and the utility of the model for preclinical testing of novel CARs.