{"doi":"10.1136/jitc-2024-009316","title":"Targeted inhibition of Aurora kinase A promotes immune checkpoint inhibition efficacy in human papillomavirus-driven cancers","abstract":"Background Human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven cancers include head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and cervical cancer and represent approximately 5% of all cancer cases worldwide. Standard-of-care chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are associated with adverse effects and limited responses in patients with HPV-driven cancers. The integration of targeted therapies with ICIs may improve outcomes. In a previous study, we demonstrated that Aurora kinase A ( AURKA , Aurora A) inhibitors lead to apoptosis of human HPV-positive cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Here, we explored the potential of Aurora A inhibition to enhance response to ICIs in immune-competent preclinical models of HPV-driven cancers. Methods We assessed the induction of apoptosis, DNA damage, and immunogenic cell death (ICD) in response to treatment with the Aurora A inhibitor alisertib in vitro and antitumor efficacy of alisertib as a monotherapy and in combination with ICIs that inhibit programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) in murine HPV-positive immune-competent tumor models. In each treatment group, we determined the tumor growth kinetics and long-term survival and assessed the tumor immune microenvironment using polychromatic flow cytometry. Results Aurora A inhibition induced apoptosis, DNA damage, and ICD in vitro in multiple human and murine HPV-positive cancer cell lines. Importantly, Aurora A inhibition induced selective apoptotic depletion of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). In vivo experiments demonstrated that the combination of alisertib with ICIs, specifically anti-CTLA4, resulted in improved survival outcomes by altering the tumor immune microenvironment. This combination enhanced CD8 T-cell infiltration and decreased the frequencies of MDSCs, whereas neither alisertib nor ICIs (anti-PD-1/anti-CTLA-4) alone showed such effects. Conclusion Our study establishes the potential of Aurora A inhibition to sensitize HPV-positive tumors to ICIs, specifically anti-CTLA-4 treatment. This combination strategy resulted in enhanced antitumor efficacy, driven by systemic and intratumoral increases in CD8 T-cell responses and reduced immunosuppressive cell populations, specifically MDSCs. These findings offer insights into the synergistic effects of Aurora A inhibition and ICIs and argue for further investigation and optimization of this combination approach in HPV-driven cancers.","journal":"Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer","year":2025,"id":515998,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":10,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9574,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":957642,"name":"Madison P. O’Hara","orcid":"0009-0009-2435-3410","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1380874,"name":"Pragya Sinha","orcid":"0009-0008-2492-6656","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":908253,"name":"Tuhina Mazumdar","orcid":"0000-0001-8359-8404","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1086464,"name":"Laçin Yapindi","orcid":"0000-0002-9429-7583","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":279025,"name":"K. Jagannadha Sastry","orcid":"0000-0002-6987-4422","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":289503,"name":"Faye M. Johnson","orcid":"0000-0002-2862-4160","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":268354,"name":"Soma Ghosh","orcid":"0000-0002-6729-4838","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":60,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:48:44.647022Z","pmid":"39773561","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}