scholarly journals Sensitizing tumors to anti-PD-1 therapy by promoting NK and CD8+ T cells via pharmacological activation of FOXO3

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. e002772
Author(s):  
Young Min Chung ◽  
Pragya P Khan ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
Wen-Bin Tsai ◽  
Yanli Qiao ◽  
...  

BackgroundStimulating antitumor immunity by blocking programmed death-1 (PD-1) or its ligand (programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a promising antitumor therapy. However, numerous patients respond poorly to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. Unresponsiveness to immune-checkpoint blockade (ICB) can cast significant challenges to the therapeutic options for patients with hard-to-treat tumors. There is an unmet clinical need to establish new therapeutic approaches for mitigating ICB unresponsiveness in patients. In this study, we investigated the efficacy and role of low-dose antineoplastic agent SN-38 or metformin in sensitizing unresponsive tumors to respond to ICB therapy.MethodsWe assessed the significant pathological relationships between PD-L1 and FOXO3 expression and between PD-L1 and c-Myc or STAT3 expression in patients with various tumors. We determined the efficacy of low-dose SN-38 or metformin in sensitizing unresponsive tumors to respond to anti-PD-1 therapy in a syngeneic tumor system. We deciphered novel therapeutic mechanisms underlying the SN-38 and anti-PD-1 therapy-mediated engagement of natural killer (NK) or CD8+ T cells to infiltrate tumors and boost antitumor immunity.ResultsWe showed that PD-L1 protein level was inversely associated with FOXO3 protein level in patients with ovarian, breast, and hepatocellular tumors. Low-dose SN-38 or metformin abrogated PD-L1 protein expression, promoted FOXO3 protein level, and significantly increased the animal survival rate in syngeneic mouse tumor models. SN-38 or metformin sensitized unresponsive tumors responding to anti-PD-1 therapy by engaging NK or CD8+ T cells to infiltrate the tumor microenvironment (TME) and secret interferon-γ and granzyme B to kill tumors. SN-38 suppressed the levels of c-Myc and STAT3 proteins, which controlled PD-L1 expression. FOXO3 was essential for SN38-mediated PD-L1 suppression. The expression of PD-L1 was compellingly linked to that of c-Myc or STAT3 in patients with the indicated tumors.ConclusionWe show that SN-38 or metformin can boost antitumor immunity in the TME by inhibiting c-Myc and STAT3 through FOXO3 activation. These results may provide novel insight into ameliorating patient response to overarching immunotherapy for tumors.

2020 ◽  
Vol 217 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly E. Whyte ◽  
Maleika Osman ◽  
Ervin E. Kara ◽  
Caitlin Abbott ◽  
Jade Foeng ◽  
...  

Current immunotherapies involving CD8+ T cell responses show remarkable promise, but their efficacy in many solid tumors is limited, in part due to the low frequency of tumor-specific T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, we identified a role for host atypical chemokine receptor 4 (ACKR4) in controlling intratumor T cell accumulation and activation. In the absence of ACKR4, an increase in intratumor CD8+ T cells inhibited tumor growth, and nonhematopoietic ACKR4 expression was critical. We show that ACKR4 inhibited CD103+ dendritic cell retention in tumors through regulation of the intratumor abundance of CCL21. In addition, preclinical studies indicate that ACKR4 and CCL21 are potential therapeutic targets to enhance responsiveness to immune checkpoint blockade or T cell costimulation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Deng ◽  
Shao-Hua Li ◽  
Xu Fu ◽  
Xiao-Peng Yan ◽  
Jun Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Programmed death- ligand 1 (PD-L1) seems to be associated with the immune escape of tumors, and immunotherapy may be a favorable treatment for PD-L1-positive patients. We evaluated intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) specimens for their expression of PD-L1, infiltration of CD8+ T cells, and the relationship between these factors and patient survival. Methods In total, 69 resections of ICC were stained by immunohistochemistry for PD-L1, programmed death factor-1 (PD-1), and CD8+ T cells. CD8+ T-cell densities were analyzed both within tumors and at the tumor-stromal interface. Patient survival was predicted based on the PD-L1 status and CD8+ T-cell density. Results The expression rate of PD-L1 was 12% in cancer cells and 51% in interstitial cells. The expression rate of PD-1 was 30%, and the number of CD8+ T-cells increased with the increase of PD-L1 expression (p < 0.05). The expression of PD-L1 in the tumor was correlated with poor overall survival(OS) (p = 0.004), and the number of tumor and interstitial CD8+ T-cells was correlated with poor OS and disease-free survival (DFS) (All p < 0.001). Conclusions The expression of PD-L1 in the tumor is related to poor OS, and the number of tumor or interstitial CD8+ T-cells is related to poor OS and DFS. For patients who lose their chance of surgery, PD-L1 immunosuppressive therapy may be the focus of future research as a potential treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A705-A705
Author(s):  
Shuyang Qin ◽  
Booyeon Han ◽  
Alexander Chacon ◽  
Alexa Melucci ◽  
Alyssa Williams ◽  
...  

BackgroundDespite recent advancements in systemic therapy, only a minority of metastatic patients develop meaningful clinical responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Inherent genetic instability of melanoma generates genomically and microenvironmentally distinct metastases. These different tumor microenvironments (TMEs) contain numerous T cell suppression mechanisms, such as upregulation of the PD-1/PD-L1 exhaustion pathway. However, as synchronous metastases share one host immune system, intertumoral heterogeneity may result in increasing cross-talk between metastases that impairs systemic antitumor immunity and promotes PD-1 immunotherapy resistance.MethodsYUMM 1.7 (less immunogenic) and YUMMER 1.7 (more immunogenic cell line derived from YUMM following UVB irradiation) melanoma cell lines were simultaneously injected into opposite flanks of the same mice as a model of synchronous melanoma. We assessed tumor growth in wildtype, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) knockout, and CD8-depleted mice as well as in response to PD-1 inhibitor. We characterized the TME with flow cytometry and performed TCR sequencing on tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells.ResultsDistinct TMEs were observed for YUMM and YUMMER tumors simultaneously grown in the same mouse. The presence of the less immunogenic YUMM tumor allows the more immunogenic YUMMER tumors to escape IFN-γ and CD8 T cell-mediated rejection, despite abundant tumor-infiltrating, clonally expanded CD8 T cells. Identical immunodominant CD8 T cell clones were found in both YUMM and YUMMER tumors within the same mouse. Synchronous YUMMER-infiltrating CD8 T cells exhibit suppressed phenotypes, including increased persistence of surface PD-1 and decreased surface CD107a expressions. Simultaneously, these synchronous YUMMER tumors additionally upregulate macrophage surface PD-L1 expression, which potentially contributes to tumor immune escape. Lastly, synchronous YUMMER tumors become resistant to PD-1 inhibition, in direct contrast to control YUMMER tumors.ConclusionsIn a host with multiple melanoma lesions, immunogenicity of all tumors contribute to the systemic antitumor immune response. We show that two synchronous tumors with synonymous mutations (<40%), as is the case with metastatic patients, lead to skewed CD8 T cell expansion of the same clones in both tumors. The presence of a less immunogenic tumor prevents CD8 and IFN-γ mediated rejection of the more immunogenic tumor. Furthermore, CD8 T cells in the more immunogenic tumor exhibit decreased effector function and increased resistance to PD-1 blockade, as tumor-infiltrating macrophages concurrently become more immunosuppressive. These results are highly suggestive of a “reverse abscopal effect,” by which immunologically “cold” tumors generate systemic immunosuppression that facilitate PD-1 immunotherapy resistance and immune escape of all other tumors in synchronous metastatic melanoma patients.AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Dr. Marcus Bosenberg from the Department of Dermatology at Yale University for kindly gifting us with the YUMMER 1.7 murine melanoma cell line.Ethics ApprovalAnimal experiments were approved by the University Committee on Animal Resources and performed in accordance with University of Rochester approved guidelines.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1393-1403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-Chi Hsu ◽  
Jenn-Ren Hsiao ◽  
Kung-Chao Chang ◽  
Yuan-Hua Wu ◽  
Ih-Jen Su ◽  
...  

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinrui Zhao ◽  
Chunlin Shao

Radiotherapy (RT) is a conventional method for clinical treatment of local tumors, which can induce tumor-specific immune response and cause the shrinkage of primary tumor and distal metastases via mediating tumor infiltration of CD8+ T cells. Ionizing radiation (IR) induced tumor regression outside the radiation field is termed as abscopal effect. However, due to the mobilization of immunosuppressive signals by IR, the activated CD8+T cells are not sufficient to maintain a long-term positive feedback to make the tumors regress completely. Eventually, the “hot” tumors gradually turn to “cold”. With the advent of emerging immunotherapy, the combination of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and local RT has produced welcome changes in stubborn metastases, especially anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 which have been approved in clinical cancer treatment. However, the detailed mechanism of the abscopal effect induced by combined therapy is still unclear. Therefore, how to formulate a therapeutic schedule to maximize the efficacy should be took into consideration according to specific circumstance. This paper reviewed the recent research progresses in immunomodulatory effects of local radiotherapy on the tumor microenvironment, as well as the unique advantage for abscopal effect when combined with ICB, with a view to exploring the potential application value of radioimmunotherapy in clinic.


Inflammation ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shufeng Li ◽  
Wensheng Liao ◽  
Meng Chen ◽  
Shiying Shan ◽  
Yuanlin Song ◽  
...  

Blood ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 113 (21) ◽  
pp. 5134-5143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stoyan Dimitrov ◽  
Christian Benedict ◽  
Dennis Heutling ◽  
Jürgen Westermann ◽  
Jan Born ◽  
...  

Abstract Pronounced circadian rhythms in numbers of circulating T cells reflect a systemic control of adaptive immunity whose mechanisms are obscure. Here, we show that circadian variations in T cell subpopulations in human blood are differentially regulated via release of cortisol and catecholamines. Within the CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets, naive cells show pronounced circadian rhythms with a daytime nadir, whereas (terminally differentiated) effector CD8+ T cell counts peak during daytime. Naive T cells were negatively correlated with cortisol rhythms, decreased after low-dose cortisol infusion, and showed highest expression of CXCR4, which was up-regulated by cortisol. Effector CD8+ T cells were positively correlated with epinephrine rhythms, increased after low-dose epinephrine infusion, and showed highest expression of β-adrenergic and fractalkine receptors (CX3CR1). Daytime increases in cortisol via CXCR4 probably act to redistribute naive T cells to bone marrow, whereas daytime increases in catecholamines via β-adrenoceptors and, possibly, a suppression of fractalkine signaling promote mobilization of effector CD8+ T cells from the marginal pool. Thus, activation of the major stress hormones during daytime favor immediate effector defense but diminish capabilities for initiating adaptive immune responses.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document