NHC Key Laboratory of Nuclear Medicine, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular Nuclear Medicine, Jiangsu Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Wuxi, 214063, China.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2021 Jun;70(6):1721-1733. doi: 10.1007/s00262-020-02818-y. Epub 2021 Jan 2.
The checkpoint blockade immunotherapy has become a potent treatment strategy for cancers, and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is a prominent checkpoint ligand that is highly expressed in some cancers. The identification of immune checkpoint marker PD-L1 is critical for improving the success of immunotherapy. Accordingly, the binding specificity and dynamic monitoring property of a non-blocking nanobody tracer Ga-NOTA-Nb109 to PD-L1 were assessed in this study. The endogenous expression level of PD-L1 in several cancer cells was measured by flow cytometry, Western blot, and cellular uptake assay. Sensitivity and specificity of Ga-NOTA-Nb109 in monitoring the expression of PD-L1 in vivo were evaluated by PET imaging of different tumor-bearing models (U87, high PD-L1 expression; HCT 116, medium PD-L1 expression; and NCI-H1299, low PD-L1 expression). In vivo PET imaging results agreed well with those detected in vitro. In addition, PET imaging of PD-L1 expression in U87 and NCI-H1299 xenografts using F-FDG was also performed for comparison. The maximum tumor-to-muscle uptake ratio of Ga-NOTA-Nb109 was more than twofold that of F-FDG in U87 xenograft. The change of PD-L1 expression in NCI-H1299 cells and xenografts induced by cisplatin (CDDP) was sensitively monitored by Ga-NOTA-Nb109. This study demonstrated the feasibility of tracer Ga-NOTA-Nb109 for specifically targeting endogenous PD-L1 and dynamic monitoring the change of PD-L1 expression, and could guide the immunotherapy and immunochemotherapy for refractory cancers.
检查点阻断免疫疗法已成为癌症的一种有效治疗策略,程序性死亡配体 1(PD-L1)是一种高度表达于某些癌症的重要检查点配体。鉴定免疫检查点标志物 PD-L1 对于提高免疫治疗的成功率至关重要。因此,本研究评估了非阻断纳米抗体示踪剂 Ga-NOTA-Nb109 与 PD-L1 的结合特异性和动态监测特性。通过流式细胞术、Western blot 和细胞摄取实验测量了几种癌细胞中 PD-L1 的内源性表达水平。通过不同肿瘤荷瘤模型(U87,高 PD-L1 表达;HCT 116,中 PD-L1 表达;NCI-H1299,低 PD-L1 表达)的 PET 成像评估了 Ga-NOTA-Nb109 监测 PD-L1 体内表达的敏感性和特异性。体内 PET 成像结果与体外检测结果一致。此外,还进行了 F-FDG 用于 U87 和 NCI-H1299 异种移植瘤中 PD-L1 表达的 PET 成像比较。在 U87 异种移植瘤中,Ga-NOTA-Nb109 的最大肿瘤与肌肉摄取比是 F-FDG 的两倍多。Ga-NOTA-Nb109 敏感地监测了顺铂(CDDP)诱导的 NCI-H1299 细胞和异种移植瘤中 PD-L1 表达的变化。这项研究证明了示踪剂 Ga-NOTA-Nb109 特异性靶向内源性 PD-L1 并动态监测 PD-L1 表达变化的可行性,并能指导难治性癌症的免疫治疗和免疫化学治疗。