scholarly journals TMIC-07. SYMBIOTIC MACROPHAGE-GLIOMA CELL INTERACTIONS REVEAL SYNTHETIC LETHALITY IN PTEN NULL GLIOMA

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_6) ◽  
pp. vi248-vi248
Author(s):  
Peiwen Chen ◽  
Ronald DePinho ◽  
Wang Alan

Abstract Heterotypic interactions across diverse cell types of the tumor microenvironment (TME) can enable tumor progression and offer points for potential therapeutic intervention. Employing Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) as a model system, we sought to (i) understand the nature of specific oncogenic signals in glioma cells that affects immune cells, and (ii) identify immune cell factors which may support glioma growth and survival. Combined profiling and functional studies of glioma cells established that PTEN deficiency, a signature GBM alteration, specifically tracks with an immune profile dominated by tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs, a key type of immune cells in GBM which can constitute up to half of the tumor mass) via upregulation of lysyl oxidase (LOX). Mechanistically, the PTEN-SRC/AKT axis regulates YAP1, which directly upregulates LOX expression and secretion in glioma cells via binding to the LOX promoter. The secreted LOX from glioma cells functions as a potent macrophage chemoattractant to promote macrophage recruitment via activation of the beta1 integrin-PYK2 pathway in macrophages. Consequently, these infiltrating macrophages secrete SPP1 (secreted phosphoprotein 1) which sustains glioma cell survival and stimulates angiogenesis. In human and mouse PTEN-null GBM models, but not PTEN-intact GBM models, LOX inhibition markedly inhibits tumor growth and extends the survival of tumor-bearing mice by decreasing macrophage infiltration, impairing SPP1 expression and attenuating angiogenesis. In silico analysis of human GBM shows that increased YAP1-LOX and b1 integrin-SPP1 signaling positively correlates with higher macrophage density and lower overall survival. Together, the symbiotic glioma (PTEN-YAP1-LOX) and macrophage (beta1 integrin-PYK2-SPP1) interactions provide novel therapeutic targets for this intractable disease.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Liu ◽  
Suryasarathi Dasgupta ◽  
Yu Fu ◽  
Brandi Bailey ◽  
Christian Roy ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Myeloid cells, especially mononuclear phagocytes, which include monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells (DC), play vital roles in innate immunity, and in the initiation and maintenance of adaptive immunity. While T cell-associated activation pathways and cytokines have been identified and evaluated in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients (Neurath, Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 14:269–78, 1989), the role of mononuclear phagocytes are less understood. Recent reports support the crucial role of DC subsets in the development of acute colitis models (Arimura et al., Mucosal Immunol 10:957–70, 2017), and suggest they may contribute to the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) by inducing Th1/Th2/Th17 responses (Matsuno et al., Inflamm Bowel Dis 23:1524–34, 2017). Results We performed in silico analysis and evaluated the enrichment of immune cells, with a focus on mononuclear phagocytes in IBD patient colonic biopsies. Samples were from different gut locations, with different levels of disease severity, and with treatment response to current therapies. We observe enrichment of monocytes, M1 macrophages, activated DCs (aDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) in inflamed tissues from various gut locations. This enrichment correlates with disease severity. Additionally, the same mononuclear phagocytes subsets are among the top enriched cell types in both infliximab and vedolizumab treatment non-responder samples. We further investigated the enrichment of selected DC and monocyte subsets based on gene signatures derived from a DC- and monocyte-focused single cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) study (Villani et al., Science 356:eaah4573, 2017), and verified enrichment in both inflamed tissues and those with treatment resistance. Moreover, we validated an increased mononuclear phagocyte subset abundance in a Dextran Sulphate Sodium (DSS) induced colitis model in C57Bl/6 mice representative of chronic inflammation. Conclusions We conducted an extensive analysis of immune cell populations in IBD patient colonic samples and identified enriched subsets of monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells in inflamed tissues. Understanding how they interact with other immune cells and other cells in the colonic microenvironment such as epithelial and stromal cells will help us to delineate disease pathogenesis.


Author(s):  
Leena P. Bharath ◽  
Barbara S. Nikolajczyk

The biguanide metformin is the most commonly used antidiabetic drug. Recent studies show that metformin not only improves chronic inflammation by improving metabolic parameters but also has a direct anti-inflammatory effect. In light of these findings, it is essential to identify the inflammatory pathways targeted by metformin to develop a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of action of this drug. Commonly accepted mechanisms of metformin action include AMPK activation and inhibition of mTOR pathways, which are evaluated in multiple diseases. Additionally, metformin's action on mitochondrial function and cellular homeostasis processes such as autophagy, is of particular interest because of the importance of these mechanisms in maintaining cellular health. Both dysregulated mitochondria and failure of the autophagy pathways, the latter of which impair clearance of dysfunctional, damaged, or excess organelles, affect cellular health drastically and can trigger the onset of metabolic and age-related diseases. Immune cells are the fundamental cell types that govern the health of an organism. Thus, dysregulation of autophagy or mitochondrial function in immune cells has a remarkable effect on susceptibility to infections, response to vaccination, tumor onset, and the development of inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. Here we summarize the latest research on metformin's regulation of immune cell mitochondrial function and autophagy as evidence that new clinical trials on metformin with primary outcomes related to the immune system should be considered to treat immune-mediated diseases over the near term.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Saghar Pahlavanneshan ◽  
Ali Sayadmanesh ◽  
Hamidreza Ebrahimiyan ◽  
Mohsen Basiri

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are expressed and play multiple functional roles in a variety of immune cell types involved in tumor immunity. There are plenty of data on the pharmacological targeting of TLR signaling using agonist molecules that boost the antitumor immune response. A recent body of research has also demonstrated promising strategies for improving the cell-based immunotherapy methods by inducing TLR signaling. These strategies include systemic administration of TLR antagonist along with immune cell transfer and also genetic engineering of the immune cells using TLR signaling components to improve the function of genetically engineered immune cells such as chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells. Here, we explore the current status of the cancer immunotherapy approaches based on manipulation of TLR signaling to provide a perspective of the underlying rationales and potential clinical applications. Altogether, reviewed publications suggest that TLRs make a potential target for the immunotherapy of cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elise Liu ◽  
Léa Karpf ◽  
Delphine Bohl

Inflammation is a shared hallmark between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). For long, studies were conducted on tissues of post-mortem patients and neuroinflammation was thought to be only bystander result of the disease with the immune system reacting to dying neurons. In the last two decades, thanks to improving technologies, the identification of causal genes and the development of new tools and models, the involvement of inflammation has emerged as a potential driver of the diseases and evolved as a new area of intense research. In this review, we present the current knowledge about neuroinflammation in ALS, ALS-FTD, and FTD patients and animal models and we discuss reasons of failures linked to therapeutic trials with immunomodulator drugs. Then we present the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and its interest as a new tool to have a better immunopathological comprehension of both diseases in a human context. The iPSC technology giving the unique opportunity to study cells across differentiation and maturation times, brings the hope to shed light on the different mechanisms linking neurodegeneration and activation of the immune system. Protocols available to differentiate iPSC into different immune cell types are presented. Finally, we discuss the interest in studying monocultures of iPS-derived immune cells, co-cultures with neurons and 3D cultures with different cell types, as more integrated cellular approaches. The hope is that the future work with human iPS-derived cells helps not only to identify disease-specific defects in the different cell types but also to decipher the synergistic effects between neurons and immune cells. These new cellular tools could help to find new therapeutic approaches for all patients with ALS, ALS-FTD, and FTD.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukun Song ◽  
Song He ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Jiaming Su ◽  
Dongbo Yuan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Immune infiltration of Prostate cancer (PCa) was highly related to clinical outcomes. However, previous works failed to elucidate the diversity of different immune cell types that make up the function of the immune response system. The aim of the study was to uncover the composition of TIICs in PCa utilizing the CIBERSORT algorithm and further reveal the molecular characteristics of PCa subtypes. Method In the present work, we employed the CIBERSORT method to evaluate the relative proportions of immune cell profiling in PCa and adjacent samples, normal samples. We analyzed the correlation between immune cell infiltration and clinical information. The tumor-infiltrating immune cells of the TCGA PCa cohort were analyzed for the first time. The fractions of 22 immune cell types were imputed to determine the correlation between each immune cell subpopulation and clinical feature. Three types of molecular classification were identified via R-package of “CancerSubtypes”. The functional enrichment was analyzed in each subtype. The submap and TIDE algorithm were used to predict the clinical response to immune checkpoint blockade, and GDSC was employed to screen chemotherapeutic targets for the potential treatment of PCa. Results In current work, we utilized the CIBERSORT algorithm to assess the relative proportions of immune cell profiling in PCa and adjacent samples, normal samples. We investigated the correlation between immune cell infiltration and clinical data. The tumor-infiltrating immune cells in the TCGA PCa cohort were analyzed. The 22 immune cells were also calculated to determine the correlation between each immune cell subpopulation and survival and response to chemotherapy. Three types of molecular classification were identified. Each subtype has specific molecular and clinical characteristics. Meanwhile, Cluster I is defined as advanced PCa, and is more likely to respond to immunotherapy. Conclusions Our results demonstrated that differences in immune response may be important drivers of PCa progression and response to treatment. The deconvolution algorithm of gene expression microarray data by CIBERSOFT provides useful information about the immune cell composition of PCa patients. In addition, we have found a subtype of immunopositive PCa subtype and will help to explore the reasons for the poor effect of PCa on immunotherapy, and it is expected that immunotherapy will be used to guide the individualized management and treatment of PCa patients.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhibin Li ◽  
chengcheng Sun ◽  
Fei Wang ◽  
Xiran Wang ◽  
Jiacheng Zhu ◽  
...  

Background: Immune cells play important roles in mediating immune response and host defense against invading pathogens. However, insights into the molecular mechanisms governing circulating immune cell diversity among multiple species are limited. Methods: In this study, we compared the single-cell transcriptomes of 77 957 immune cells from 12 species using single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq). Distinct molecular profiles were characterized for different immune cell types, including T cells, B cells, natural killer cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells. Results: The results revealed the heterogeneity and compositions of circulating immune cells among 12 different species. Additionally, we explored the conserved and divergent cellular cross-talks and genetic regulatory networks among vertebrate immune cells. Notably, the ligand and receptor pair VIM-CD44 was highly conserved among the immune cells. Conclusions: This study is the first to provide a comprehensive analysis of the cross-species single-cell atlas for peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). This research should advance our understanding of the cellular taxonomy and fundamental functions of PBMCs, with important implications in evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and immune system disorders


eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Rajbhandari ◽  
Douglas Arneson ◽  
Sydney K Hart ◽  
In Sook Ahn ◽  
Graciel Diamante ◽  
...  

Immune cells are vital constituents of the adipose microenvironment that influence both local and systemic lipid metabolism. Mice lacking IL10 have enhanced thermogenesis, but the roles of specific cell types in the metabolic response to IL10 remain to be defined. We demonstrate here that selective loss of IL10 receptor α in adipocytes recapitulates the beneficial effects of global IL10 deletion, and that local crosstalk between IL10-producing immune cells and adipocytes is a determinant of thermogenesis and systemic energy balance. Single Nuclei Adipocyte RNA-sequencing (SNAP-seq) of subcutaneous adipose tissue defined a metabolically-active mature adipocyte subtype characterized by robust expression of genes involved in thermogenesis whose transcriptome was selectively responsive to IL10Rα deletion. Furthermore, single-cell transcriptomic analysis of adipose stromal populations identified lymphocytes as a key source of IL10 production in response to thermogenic stimuli. These findings implicate adaptive immune cell-adipocyte communication in the maintenance of adipose subtype identity and function.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (S1) ◽  
pp. 11-12
Author(s):  
Mark H. Murdock ◽  
Jordan T. Chang ◽  
George S. Hussey ◽  
Nduka M. Amankulor ◽  
Johnathan A. Engh ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Gliomas are the most lethal and common primary tumor type in the central nervous system across all age groups; affected adults have a life expectancy of just 14 months. As glioma cells invade the surrounding normal parenchyma they remodel the composition and ultrastructure of the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM), suggesting that the native (i.e., “normal”) microenvironment is not ideal for their survival and proliferation. Recent reports describe suppressive and/or lethal effects of mammalian ECM hydrogels derived from normal (nonneoplastic) sources upon various cancer types. ECM-based bioscaffolds placed at sites of neoplastic tissue resection in humans have never been reported to facilitate cancer recurrence. The objective of the present research is to evaluate mammalian ECM as a novel approach to glioma therapy. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: ECM hydrogels from porcine dermis, small intestine, and urinary bladder were produced as described previously. Primary glioma cells were graciously supplied by Drs. Nduka Amankulor and Johnathan Engh, and U-87 MG were ordered through ATCC. Cells were plated onto tissue culture plastic at ~60% confluence and allowed to attach for 24 hours before treatment. The saline-soluble fraction (SSF) of ECM was obtained by mixing lyophilized, comminuted ECM with 0.9% saline for 24 hours then filtering the resulting mixture through a 10 kDa molecular weight cutoff column. All assays and kits were followed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Cell viability was measured via MTT assay (Vybrant® MTT Cell Proliferation Assay, Invitrogen) and by live/dead staining (LIVE/DEAD® Cell Imaging Kit, Invitrogen). Time lapse videos were created by taking images every 20 minutes for 18 hours (phase-contrast) or every 10 minutes for 12 hours (darkfield). NucView reagent was ordered from Biotium. Temozolomide was ordered through Abmole. All in vivo work was conducted according to protocols approved by the University of Pittsburgh’s IACUC office. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: ECM hydrogels derived from porcine dermis, small intestine, or urinary bladder all decreased the viability of primary glioma cells in vitro, with urinary bladder extracellular matrix (UBM) having the most dramatic effects. The SSF of UBM (UBM-SSF), devoid of the fibrillar, macromolecular components of ECM, was sufficient to recapitulate this detrimental effect upon neoplastic cells in vitro and was used for the remainder of the experiments described herein. In a cell viability assay normalized to the media treatment, non-neoplastic CHME5 and N1E-115 cells scored 103% and 114% after 48 hours when treated with UBM-SSF and 2 primary high-grade glioma cell types scored 17% and 30.5% with UBM-SSF (n=2). Phase-contrast time-lapse video showed CHME5 and HFF thriving in the presence of UBM-SSF for 18 hours while most primary glioma cells shriveled and died within this time. Darkfield time-lapse video of wells containing Nucview dye, fluorescent upon cleavage by active caspase-3, confirmed that within 12 hours most primary glioma cells underwent apoptosis while CHME5 and HFF did not. In culture with primary astrocytes, high grade primary glioma cells, and U-87 MG glioma cells for 24 hours, UBM-SSF was found to significantly increase the population of primary astrocytes compared with media (p<0.05) while decreasing the 2 glioma cell types to approximately one-third as many cells as the media control (p<0.0001). A dose-response of temozolomide from 0 to 10,000 μM showed that when treating 2 non-neoplastic cell types (CHME5 and HFF) and 2 types of primary glioma cell there was no difference in survivability at any concentration. Contrasted to this, a dose-response of UBM-SSF from 350 to 7000 μg/mL showed that the non-neoplastic cells survived significantly better than the glioma cells at concentrations of 875 μg/mL and upward (p<0.05). In preliminary animal experiments, large primary glioma tumors in the flanks of athymic nude mice were resected and replaced with either UBM SSF or Matrigel (an ECM product of neoplastic cell origin). After 7 days the resection sites with UBM-SSF had little tumor regrowth if any compared with the dramatic recurrence seen in the Matrigel injection sites (n=2). In a separate survival study comparing PBS to UBM-SSF injections in the flank-resection model, all animals given PBS had to be sacrificed at 9, 11, and 11 days (n=3) whereas animals given UBM-SSF were sacrificed at 15, 24, and 39 days (n=3), indicating a moderate increase in survival due to the UBM-SSF. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Since the introduction of the pan-cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent TMZ in 2005, the standard of care for patients with glioblastoma multiforme has not improved. These findings indicate that non-neoplastic ECM contains potent bioactive regulators capable of abrogating malignancy. Our in vitro data suggest these molecules appear to have no deleterious effect on non-neoplastic cells while specifically inducing apoptosis in glioma cells. Our in vivo data suggest that these molecules may be useful in delaying glioma recurrence, thus resulting in extended lifespan. Delivering soluble fractions of ECM to a tumor site may represent a novel approach to glioma therapy, sidestepping traditional cytotoxic therapies in favor of utilizing putative endogenous anti-tumor pathways.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Guo ◽  
Weimin Li ◽  
Xuyu Cai

The recent technical and computational advances in single-cell sequencing technologies have significantly broaden our toolkit to study tumor microenvironment (TME) directly from human specimens. The TME is the complex and dynamic ecosystem composed of multiple cell types, including tumor cells, immune cells, stromal cells, endothelial cells, and other non-cellular components such as the extracellular matrix and secreted signaling molecules. The great success on immune checkpoint blockade therapy has highlighted the importance of TME on anti-tumor immunity and has made it a prime target for further immunotherapy strategies. Applications of single-cell transcriptomics on studying TME has yielded unprecedented resolution of the cellular and molecular complexity of the TME, accelerating our understanding of the heterogeneity, plasticity, and complex cross-interaction between different cell types within the TME. In this review, we discuss the recent advances by single-cell sequencing on understanding the diversity of TME and its functional impact on tumor progression and immunotherapy response driven by single-cell sequencing. We primarily focus on the major immune cell types infiltrated in the human TME, including T cells, dendritic cells, and macrophages. We further discuss the limitations of the existing methodologies and the prospects on future studies utilizing single-cell multi-omics technologies. Since immune cells undergo continuous activation and differentiation within the TME in response to various environmental cues, we highlight the importance of integrating multimodal datasets to enable retrospective lineage tracing and epigenetic profiling of the tumor infiltrating immune cells. These novel technologies enable better characterization of the developmental lineages and differentiation states that are critical for the understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving the functional diversity of immune cells within the TME. We envision that with the continued accumulation of single-cell omics datasets, single-cell sequencing will become an indispensable aspect of the immune-oncology experimental toolkit. It will continue to drive the scientific innovations in precision immunotherapy and will be ultimately adopted by routine clinical practice in the foreseeable future.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Chen ◽  
Bo Zhao ◽  
Xiaohu Wang

Abstract Background Osteosarcoma is a rare malignant bone tumor in adolescents and children. Poor prognosis has always been a difficult problem for patients with osteosarcoma. Recent studies have shown that tumor infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) are associated with the clinical outcome of osteosarcoma patients. The aim of our research was to construct a risk score model based on TIICs to predict the prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma. Methods CIBERSORTX algorithm was used to calculate the proportion of 22 TIIC types in osteosarcoma samples. Kaplan-Meier curves were drawn to investigate the prognostic value of 22 TIIC types. Forward stepwise approach was used to screen a minimal set of immune cell types. Multivariate Cox PHR analysis was performed to construct an immune risk score model. Results Osteosarcoma samples with CIBERSORTX output p value less than 0.05 were selected for research. Kaplan-Meier curves indicated that naive B cells (p = 0.047) and Monocytes (p = 0.03) in osteosarcoma are associated with poor prognosis. An immune risk score model was constructed base on eight immune cell types, and the ROC curve showed that the immune risk score model is reliable in predicting the prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma (AUC = 0.724). Besides, a nomogram model base on eight immune cell types was constructed to predict the survival rate of patients with osteosarcoma. Conclusions TIICs are closely related to the prognosis of osteosarcoma. The immune risk score model based on TIICs is reliable in predicting the prognosis of osteosarcoma.


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