Sequential treatment with PARPi and WEE1i enhances antitumor immune responses in preclinical models of ovarian cancer

Abstract

The antitumor activity demonstrated by DNA damage response inhibitors (DDRis) can be partially attributed to their capacity to enhance immune responses. However, the toxicity of DDRis to lymphocytes, particularly when a DDRi is combined with other treatments targeting cell cycle checkpoint kinases, indicates a need for the development of different DDRi treatment schedules. Here, we systematically assessed changes to the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) in response to DDRis across various treatment timelines in ovarian cancer. Using single-cell analysis, we found that the sequential treatment with an inhibitor of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARPi), followed by an inhibitor of the cell cycle checkpoint kinase WEE1 (WEE1i), resulted in more effective cancer eradication and stronger antitumor immune responses in vivo, compared with mono- and concurrent therapy. Both sequential and concurrent treatment schedules could induce lethal DNA damage and activate the cGAS-STING pathway in cancer cells, but T cell viability was greater under sequential treatment. Proteomic analysis showed that T cells more quickly recovered from DNA damage after DDRi treatment compared with cancer cells. Both immune checkpoint therapy and CAR T cells were more effective when combined with sequential treatment compared with monotherapy treatment in a syngeneic high-grade serous ovarian cancer mouse model and in a treatment-resistant ovarian cancer patient-derived xenograft model. Our study demonstrated that sequential treatment with PARPi and WEE1i spared T cells from severe DNA damage and activated the cGAS-STING pathway in cancer cells, suggesting that antitumor immunity and control of tumor growth can be optimized through changes in treatment schedules.