Differences in choroidal responses to near work between myopic children and young adults.

BACKGROUND: Near work is generally considered as a risk factor for myopia onset and progression. This study aimed to investigate the choroidal responses to a brief-period of near work in children and young adults. METHODS: Thirty myopic medical students (aged 18-28 years) and 30 myopic children (aged 8-12 years) participated in this study. The submacular total choroidal area (TCA), luminal area (LA), stromal area (SA), choroidal vascularity index (CVI) and choriocapillaris flow deficit (CcFD), as well as subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) were measured with swept-source optical coherence tomography/optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCT/OCTA) before and immediately after 20 min, 40 min, 60 min of near work at a distance of 33 cm. RESULTS: In adults, 20 min of near work induced a significant reduction in SFCT (- 5.1 ± 6.5 µm), LA [(- 19.2 ± 18.6) × 103 µm2], SA [(- 8.2 ± 12.6) × 103 µm2] and TCA [(- 27.4 ± 24.9) × 103 µm2] (all P < 0.01). After 40 min of near work, LA was still reduced [(- 9.4 ± 18.3) × 103 µm2], accompanied with a decreased CVI (- 0.39% ± 0.70%) and an increased CcFD (0.30% ± 0.78%) (all P < 0.05). After 60 min of near work, CVI was still reduced (- 0.28% ± 0.59%), and CcFD was still increased (0.37% ± 0.75%) (all P < 0.05). In children, 20 min of near work induced a significant increase in CcFD (0.55% ± 0.64%), while 60 min of near work induced increases in SA [(7.2 ± 13.0) × 103 µm2] and TCA [(9.7 ± 25.3) × 103 µm2] and a reduction in CVI (- 0.28% ± 0.72%) (all P < 0.05). Children exhibited lower near work-induced LA and TCA reduction than adults, with a mean difference of - 0.86% and - 0.82%, respectively (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The temporal characteristics and magnitude of changes of choroidal vascularity and choriocapillaris perfusion during near work was not identical between children and adults. The initial response to near work was observed in choriocapillaris in children, whereas it was observed in the medium- and large-sized vessels in adults. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR), ChiCTR2000040205. Registered on 25 November 2020, https://www.chictr.org.cn/bin/project/edit?pid=64501 .

Augmentation of scleral glycolysis promotes myopia through histone lactylation.

Myopia is characterized of maladaptive increases in scleral fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transdifferentiation (FMT). Scleral hypoxia is a significant factor contributing to myopia, but how hypoxia induces myopia is poorly understood. Here, we showed that myopia in mice and guinea pigs was associated with hypoxia-induced increases in key glycolytic enzymes expression and lactate levels in the sclera. Promotion of scleral glycolysis or lactate production induced FMT and myopia; conversely, suppression of glycolysis or lactate production eliminated or inhibited FMT and myopia. Mechanistically, increasing scleral glycolysis-lactate levels promoted FMT and myopia via H3K18la, and this promoted Notch1 expression. Genetic analyses identified a significant enrichment of two genes encoding glycolytic enzymes, ENO2 and TPI1. Moreover, increasing sugar intake in guinea pigs not only induced myopia but also enhanced the response to myopia induction via the scleral glycolysis-lactate-histone lactylation pathway. Collectively, we suggest that scleral glycolysis contributes to myopia by promoting FMT via lactate-induced histone lactylation.

Novel fusion protein PK5-RL-Gal-3C inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma via anti-angiogenesis and cytotoxicity.

BACKGROUND: Galectin-3 (Gal-3), the only chimeric ß-galactosides-binding lectin, consists of Gal-3N (N-terminal regulatory peptide) and Gal-3C (C-terminal carbohydrate-recognition domain). Interestingly, Gal-3C could specifically inhibit endogenous full-length Gal-3 to exhibit anti-tumor activity. Here, we aimed to further improve the anti-tumor activity of Gal-3C via developing novel fusion proteins. METHODS: PK5 (the fifth kringle domain of plasminogen) was introduced to the N-terminus of Gal-3C via rigid linker (RL) to generate novel fusion protein PK5-RL-Gal-3C. Then, we investigated the anti-tumor activity of PK5-RL-Gal-3C in vivo and in vitro by using several experiments, and figured out their molecular mechanisms in anti-angiogenesis and cytotoxicity to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). RESULTS: Our results show that PK5-RL-Gal-3C can inhibit HCC both in vivo and in vitro without obvious toxicity, and also significantly prolong the survival time of tumor-bearing mice. Mechanically, we find that PK5-RL-Gal-3C inhibits angiogenesis and show cytotoxicity to HCC. In detail, HUVEC-related and matrigel plug assays indicate that PK5-RL-Gal-3C plays an important role in inhibiting angiogenesis by regulating HIF1α/VEGF and Ang-2 both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, PK5-RL-Gal-3C induces cell cycle arrest at G1 phase and apoptosis with inhibition of Cyclin D1, Cyclin D3, CDK4, and Bcl-2, but activation of p27, p21, caspase-3, -8 and -9. CONCLUSION: Novel fusion protein PK5-RL-Gal-3C is potent therapeutic agent by inhibiting tumor angiogenesis in HCC and potential antagonist of Gal-3, which provides new strategy for exploring novel antagonist of Gal-3 and promotes their application in clinical treatment.

Potential applications of JAK inhibitors, clinically approved drugs against autoimmune diseases, in cancer therapy.

Disturbances in immunoregulation may lead to both cancer and autoimmune diseases. Many therapeutic drugs for autoimmune diseases also display anti-tumor efficacy. The Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription signaling pathways are involved in the secretion of more than 50 distinct cytokines, which have critical roles in inducing autoimmune diseases and tumorigenesis. Thus, Janus kinases have become classical immunotherapeutic targets for immune disease. More than 70 Janus kinase inhibitors have been approved as immunomodulatory drugs for clinical use, of which 12 are used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. This systematic review aims to elucidate the anti-tumor role of clinically approved Janus kinase inhibitors that were primarily designed for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and their potential for clinical translation as cancer treatments.

Docetaxel enhances the therapeutic efficacy of PSMA-specific CAR-T cells against prostate cancer models by suppressing MDSCs.

PURPOSE: Prostate cancer can undergo curative effects by radical prostatectomy or radical radiotherapy. However, the best treatment for more aggressive high-risk prostate cancer remains controversial. Insufficient infiltration capacity and dysfunction are commonly occurrences in engineered T lymphocytes expressing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T), characterizing cancer immunotherapy failure. We conducted this study to investigate whether the combinative application of docetaxel and PSMA-CAR-T cells could be a more effective treatment to prostate cancer. METHODS: Expressions of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) on prostate cancer cells were examined by Flow cytometry. The efficaciousness of PSMA-CAR-T was evaluated in vitro using ELISA and RTCA. The effect of intermixed therapy was assessed in vivo utilizing a human prostate cancer liver metastasis mouse model and a human prostate cancer cell xenograft mouse model. RESULTS: The outcome of cytokine discharge and cell killing assays demonstrated that PSMA-CAR-T cells have characteristic effector capacity against PSMA+ prostate cancer cells in vitro. Additionally, collaborative treatment of PSMA-CAR-T cells and docetaxel have cooperative efficacy in a mouse model of human prostate cancer. The merged strategy could be seen as an undeveloped avenue to augmenting adoptive CAR-T cell immunotherapy and mitigating the adverse side effects of chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Cooperation of PSMA-specific CAR-T cells and the chemotherapy drug docetaxel can impressively ameliorate antitumor effectiveness against an installed metastatic human prostate cancer model in NPG mice.

Lenvatinib enhances T cell immunity and the efficacy of adoptive chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells by decreasing myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer.

BACKGROUND: Lenvatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been approved for the treatment of several cancers. However, its regulatory activity and related mechanisms on T cell antitumour immunity need to be further investigated. METHODS: The antitumour activity of lenvatinib in immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice was compared to determine the role of T cell immunity. The antitumour activity of T cells was analysed by cytokine production and adoptive T cell therapy. The immunosuppressive effects of MDSCs on T cells were determined by detecting cytokine production in T cells after being cocultured with MDSCs. The adjuvant immunotherapy effect of lenvatinib was determined by combination therapy with CAR-T cells targeted carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) in a murine renal cancer model. RESULTS: The antitumour activity of lenvatinib was greater in immunocompetent mice than in immunodeficient mice and was attenuated by CD8+T cell depletion. Lenvatinib increased proliferation, tumour infiltration and antitumour activity of T cells. Importantly, adoptive transfer of lenvatinib-treated T cells showed a long-term antitumour response in vivo. Mechanistically, lenvatinib upregulated T cell-related chemokines (CXCL10 and CCL8) in tumours and decreased the frequency and immunosuppressive activity of MDSCs. Furthermore, lenvatinib enhanced the efficacy of CAR-T cells in a murine renal cancer model. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed novel antitumour mechanisms of lenvatinib by enhancing T cell-mediated antitumour immunity. These findings are of great significance for guiding the clinical use of lenvatinib and provide a good candidate for future combination therapy with T-cell therapies or other immunotherapies.

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Cabozantinib Inhibits Murine Renal Cancer by Activating Innate and Adaptive Immunity.

BACKGROUND: Advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has a very dismal prognosis. Cabozantinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has been approved for the treatment of advanced RCC. However, the impact of cabozantinib on the immune microenvironment of RCC remains poorly understood. METHODS: Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed to examine the correlation between intratumor infiltration of neutrophils and patient prognosis in RCC. Infiltration and effector function of neutrophils and T cells in response to cabozantinib treatment were investigated in a murine RCC model. RESULTS: A retrospective study of 307 RCC patients indicated that neutrophils were recruited into tumor tissues, and increased neutrophil infiltration was associated with improved clinical outcomes. In a murine model of RCC, cabozantinib treatment significantly increased both intratumor infiltration and anti-tumor function of neutrophils and T cells. Mechanistically, we found that cabozantinib treatment induced expression of neutrophil-related chemokines (CCL11 and CXCL12) and T cell-related chemokines (CCL8 and CX3CL1) in the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, depletion of neutrophils and CD8+ T cells compromised the therapeutic efficacy of cabozantinib. Importantly, cabozantinib treatment induced long-term anti-tumor T cell response. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed novel mechanisms of the therapeutic effects of cabozantinib on RCC by activating both neutrophil-mediated innate immunity and T cell-mediated adaptive immunity. These findings are of great significance for guiding the clinical use of cabozantinib and provide a good candidate for future combination therapy with T-cell therapies or other immunotherapies.

Akt inhibition at the initial stage of CAR-T preparation enhances the CAR-positive expression rate, memory phenotype and in vivo efficacy.

The adoptive transfer of chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR-T) cells is a novel cancer treatment that has led to encouraging breakthroughs in the treatment of haematological malignancies. The efficacy of infused CAR-T cells is associated with a high CAR-positive expression rate, a strong proliferative response and the persistence of CAR-T cells in vivo. Manufacturing CAR-T cells is a process usually associated with the decreased CAR-positive expression rate and terminal differentiation of the infused CAR-T cells, which causes decreased proliferation and persistence of CAR-T cells in vivo. Therefore, the preparation of a high CAR-positive expression rate and few differentiated CAR-T cells is particularly important for clinical cancer treatment. In this study, we transduced and expanded CAR-T cells targeting the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) in the presence of an Akt inhibitor (MK2206) during the initial stage of CAR-T cell preparation. We show that the Akt inhibitor did not suppress the proliferation or effector function of the EpCAM-CAR-T cells but increased the CAR-positive expression rate and decreased the number of terminally differentiated EpCAM-CAR-T cells. Furthermore, EpCAM-CAR-T cells prepared using this protocol appeared to have enhanced antitumor activity in vivo. Taken together, these findings suggest that Akt inhibition during the initial stage of CAR-T cell preparation could improve the performance of CAR-T cells.