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Cachexia is a wasting syndrome comprised of adipose, muscle, and weight loss observed in cancer patients. Tumor loss-of-function mutations in STK11/LKB1 , a regulator of the energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase, induce cancer cachexia (CC) in preclinical models and are associated with cancer-related weight loss in NSCLC patients. Here we characterized the relevance of the NSCLC-associated cachexia factor growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) in several patient-derived and genetically engineered STK11/LKB1 -mutant NSCLC cachexia lines. Both tumor mRNA expression and serum concentrations of tumor-derived GDF15 were significantly elevated in multiple mice transplanted with patient-derived STK11/LKB1 -mutated NSCLC lines. GDF15 neutralizing antibody administered to mice transplanted with patient- or mouse-derived STK11/LKB1 -mutated NSCLC lines suppressed cachexia-associated adipose loss, muscle atrophy, and changes in body weight. The silencing of GDF15 in multiple human NSCLC lines was also sufficient to eliminate in vivo circulating GDF15 levels and abrogate cachexia induction, suggesting that tumor and not host tissues represent a key source of GDF15 production in these cancer models. Finally, reconstitution of wild-type STK11/LKB1 in a human STK11/LKB1 loss-of-function NSCLC line that normally induces cachexia in vivo correlated with the absence of tumor-secreted GDF15 and rescue from the cachexia phenotype. The current data provide evidence for tumor-secreted GDF15 as a conduit and a therapeutic target through which NSCLCs with STK11/LKB1 loss-of-function mutations promote cachexia-associated wasting.
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There are few effective treatments for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) underscoring the need for innovative therapeutic approaches. This study focuses on exploiting telomerase, a critical SCLC dependency as a therapeutic target. A prominent characteristic of SCLC is their reliance on telomerase activity, a key enzyme essential for their continuous proliferation. Here we utilize a nucleoside analog, 6-Thio-2'-deoxyguanosine (6TdG) currently in phase II clinical trials, that is preferentially incorporated by telomerase into telomeres leading to telomere dysfunction. Using preclinical mouse and human derived models we find low intermittent doses of 6TdG inhibit tumor growth and reduce metastatic burden. Anti-tumor efficacy correlates with a reduction in a subpopulation of cancer initiating like cells (CICs) identified by their expression of L1CAM/CD133 and highest telomerase activity. 6TdG treatment also leads to activation of innate and adaptive anti-tumor responses. Mechanistically, 6TdG depletes CICs and induces type-I interferon signaling leading to tumor immune visibility by activating tumor cell STING signaling. We also observe increased sensitivity to irradiation after 6TdG treatment in both syngeneic and humanized SCLC xenograft models both of which are dependent on the presence of host immune cells. This study underscores the immune-enhancing and metastasis-reducing effects of 6TdG, employing a range of complementary in vitro and in vivo SCLC preclinical models providing a potential therapeutic approach to SCLC.
Assuntos
Desoxiguanosina/análogos & derivados , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão , Telomerase , Tionucleosídeos , Humanos , Animais , Camundongos , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos , TelômeroRESUMO
The role of tumor mutational burden (TMB) in shaping tumor immunity is a key question that has not been addressable using genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of lung cancer. To induce TMB in lung GEMMs, we expressed an ultra-mutator variant of DNA polymerase-E (POLE)P286R in lung epithelial cells. Introduction of PoleP286R allele into KrasG12D and KrasG12D; p53L/L (KP) models significantly increase their TMB. Immunogenicity and sensitivity to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) induced by Pole is partially dependent on p53. Corroborating these observations, survival of NSCLC patients whose tumors have TP53truncating mutations is shorter than those with TP53WT with immunotherapy. Immune resistance is in part through reduced antigen presentation and in part due to mutational heterogeneity. Total STING protein levels are elevated in Pole mutated KP tumors creating a vulnerability. A stable polyvalent STING agonist or p53 induction increases sensitivity to immunotherapy offering therapeutic options in these polyclonal tumors.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Camundongos , Animais , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras)/genética , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/terapia , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , MutaçãoRESUMO
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have caused revolutionary changes in cancer treatment, but low response rates remain a challenge. Semaphorin 4A (Sema4A) modulates the immune system through multiple mechanisms in mice, although the role of human Sema4A in the tumor microenvironment remains unclear. This study demonstrates that histologically Sema4A-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) responded significantly better to anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody than Sema4A-negative NSCLC. Intriguingly, SEMA4A expression in human NSCLC was mainly derived from tumor cells and was associated with T cell activation. Sema4A promoted cytotoxicity and proliferation of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells without terminal exhaustion by enhancing mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 and polyamine synthesis, which led to improved efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors in murine models. Improved T cell activation by recombinant Sema4A was also confirmed using isolated tumor-infiltrating T cells from patients with cancer. Thus, Sema4A might be a promising therapeutic target and biomarker for predicting and promoting ICI efficacy.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Semaforinas , Animais , Humanos , Camundongos , Anticorpos Bloqueadores , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos , Proliferação de Células , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1 , Semaforinas/genética , Semaforinas/metabolismo , Microambiente TumoralRESUMO
The adenosine pathway is an exciting new target in the field of cancer immunotherapy. CD73 is the main producer of extracellular adenosine. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has one of the highest CD73 expression signatures among all cancer types and the presence of common oncogenic drivers of NSCLC, such as mutant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and KRAS, correlate with increased CD73 expression. Current immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies only benefit a subset of patients, and it has proved challenging to understand which patients might respond even with the current understanding of predictive biomarkers. The adenosine pathway is well known to disrupt cytotoxic function of T cells, which is currently the main target of most clinical agents. Data thus far suggests that combining ICB therapies already in the clinic with adenosine pathway inhibitors provides promise for the treatment of lung cancer. However, antigen loss or lack of good antigens limits efficacy of ICB; simultaneous activation of other cytotoxic immune cells such as natural killer (NK) cells can be explored in these tumors. Clinical trials harnessing both T and NK cell activating treatments are still in their early stages with results expected in the coming years. In this review we provide an overview of new literature on the adenosine pathway and specifically CD73. CD73 is thought of mainly for its role as an immune modulator, however recent studies have demonstrated the tumor cell intrinsic properties of CD73 are potentially as important as its role in immune suppression. We also highlight the current understanding of this pathway in lung cancer, outline ongoing studies examining therapies in combination with adenosine pathway targeting, and discuss future prospects.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/terapia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/terapia , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/metabolismo , Adenosina/metabolismo , Células Matadoras Naturais , ImunoterapiaRESUMO
The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is an important anti-cancer target in lymphoid cancers but has been understudied in solid tumors like lung cancer, although glucocorticoids are often given with chemotherapy regimens to mitigate side effects. Here, we identify a dexamethasone-GR mediated anti-cancer response in a subset of aggressive non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) that harbor Serine/Threonine Kinase 11 (STK11/LKB1) mutations. High tumor expression of carbamoyl phosphate synthase 1 (CPS1) was strongly linked to the presence of LKB1 mutations, was the best predictor of NSCLC dexamethasone (DEX) sensitivity (p < 10-16) but was not mechanistically involved in DEX sensitivity. Subcutaneous, orthotopic and metastatic NSCLC xenografts, biomarker-selected, STK11/LKB1 mutant patient derived xenografts, and genetically engineered mouse models with KRAS/LKB1 mutant lung adenocarcinomas all showed marked in vivo anti-tumor responses with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone as a single agent or in combination with cisplatin. Mechanistically, GR activation triggers G1/S cell cycle arrest in LKB1 mutant NSCLCs by inducing the expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, CDKN1C/p57(Kip2). All findings were confirmed with functional genomic experiments including CRISPR knockouts and exogenous expression. Importantly, DEX-GR mediated cell cycle arrest did not interfere with NSCLC radiotherapy, or platinum response in vitro or with platinum response in vivo. While DEX induced LKB1 mutant NSCLCs in vitro exhibit markers of cellular senescence and demonstrate impaired migration, in vivo DEX treatment of a patient derived xenograft (PDX) STK11/LKB1 mutant model resulted in expression of apoptosis markers. These findings identify a previously unknown GR mediated therapeutic vulnerability in STK11/LKB1 mutant NSCLCs caused by induction of p57(Kip2) expression with both STK11 mutation and high expression of CPS1 as precision medicine biomarkers of this vulnerability.
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Mutations in STK11/LKB1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are associated with poor patient responses to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), and introduction of a Stk11/Lkb1 (L) mutation into murine lung adenocarcinomas driven by mutant Kras and Trp53 loss (KP) resulted in an ICB refractory syngeneic KPL tumor. Mechanistically this occurred because KPL mutant NSCLCs lacked TCF1-expressing CD8 T cells, a phenotype recapitulated in human STK11/LKB1 mutant NSCLCs. Systemic inhibition of Axl results in increased type I interferon secretion from dendritic cells that expanded tumor-associated TCF1+PD-1+CD8 T cells, restoring therapeutic response to PD-1 ICB in KPL tumors. This was observed in syngeneic immunocompetent mouse models and in humanized mice bearing STK11/LKB1 mutant NSCLC human tumor xenografts. NSCLC-affected individuals with identified STK11/LKB1 mutations receiving bemcentinib and pembrolizumab demonstrated objective clinical response to combination therapy. We conclude that AXL is a critical targetable driver of immune suppression in STK11/LKB1 mutant NSCLC.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas/metabolismo , Receptores Proteína Tirosina Quinases/metabolismo , Quinases Proteína-Quinases Ativadas por AMP , Animais , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Camundongos , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1/genética , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/genética , Receptor Tirosina Quinase AxlRESUMO
Inhibition of RTK pathways in cancer triggers an adaptive response that promotes therapeutic resistance. Because the adaptive response is multifaceted, the optimal approach to blunting it remains undetermined. TNF upregulation is a biologically significant response to EGFR inhibition in NSCLC. Here, we compared a specific TNF inhibitor (etanercept) to thalidomide and prednisone, two drugs that block TNF and also other inflammatory pathways. Prednisone is significantly more effective in suppressing EGFR inhibition-induced inflammatory signals. Remarkably, prednisone induces a shutdown of bypass RTK signaling and inhibits key resistance signals such as STAT3, YAP and TNF-NF-κB. Combined with EGFR inhibition, prednisone is significantly superior to etanercept or thalidomide in durably suppressing tumor growth in multiple mouse models, indicating that a broad suppression of adaptive signals is more effective than blocking a single component. We identify prednisone as a drug that can effectively inhibit adaptive resistance with acceptable toxicity in NSCLC and other cancers.
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Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos/efeitos dos fármacos , Glucocorticoides/farmacologia , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/farmacologia , Transdução de Sinais/efeitos dos fármacos , Células A549 , Animais , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Citocinas/metabolismo , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Receptores ErbB/efeitos dos fármacos , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos NOD , Camundongos SCID , Camundongos Transgênicos , Prednisona , Fator de Transcrição STAT3/metabolismo , Talidomida , Inibidores do Fator de Necrose Tumoral , Regulação para CimaRESUMO
PD-1 blockade exerts antitumor effects by reinvigorating tumor antigenspecific CD8+ T cells. Whereas neoantigens arising from gene alterations in cancer cells comprise critical tumor antigens in antitumor immunity, a subset of nonsmall cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) harboring substantial tumor mutation burden (TMB) lack CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME), which results in resistance to PD-1 blockade therapy. To overcome this resistance, clarifying the mechanism(s) impairing antitumor immunity in highly mutated NSCLCs is an urgent issue. Here, we showed that activation of the WNT/ß-catenin signaling pathway contributed to the development of a noninflamed TME in tumors with high TMB. NSCLCs that lacked immune cell infiltration into the TME despite high TMB preferentially up-regulated the WNT/ß-catenin pathway. Immunologic assays revealed that those patients harbored neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood but not in the TME, suggesting impaired T cell infiltration into the TME due to the activation of WNT/ß-catenin signaling. In our animal models, the accumulation of gene mutations in cancer cells increased CD8+ T cell infiltration into the TME, thus slowing tumor growth. However, further accumulation of gene mutations blunted antitumor immunity by excluding CD8+ T cells from tumors in a WNT/ß-catenin signaling-dependent manner. Combined treatment with PD-1 blockade and WNT/ß-catenin signaling inhibitors induced better antitumor immunity than either treatment alone. Thus, we propose a mechanism-oriented combination therapy whereby immune checkpoint inhibitors can be combined with drugs that target cell-intrinsic oncogenic signaling pathways involved in tumor immune escape.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/imunologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/imunologia , Evasão Tumoral/imunologia , Animais , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Nus , Microambiente Tumoral/imunologia , Via de Sinalização Wnt/imunologiaRESUMO
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is classified as a high-grade neuroendocrine (NE) tumor, but a subset of SCLC has been termed "variant" due to the loss of NE characteristics. In this study, we computed NE scores for patient-derived SCLC cell lines and xenografts, as well as human tumors. We aligned NE properties with transcription factor-defined molecular subtypes. Then we investigated the different immune phenotypes associated with high and low NE scores. We found repression of immune response genes as a shared feature between classic SCLC and pulmonary neuroendocrine cells of the healthy lung. With loss of NE fate, variant SCLC tumors regain cell-autonomous immune gene expression and exhibit higher tumor-immune interactions. Pan-cancer analysis revealed this NE lineage-specific immune phenotype in other cancers. Additionally, we observed MHC I re-expression in SCLC upon development of chemoresistance. These findings may help guide the design of treatment regimens in SCLC.
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Biomarcadores Tumorais/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Tumores Neuroendócrinos/genética , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/genética , Transcriptoma , Animais , Antineoplásicos/farmacologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Linhagem da Célula , Resistencia a Medicamentos Antineoplásicos , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Genes MHC Classe I , Humanos , Imunofenotipagem , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/imunologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Camundongos , Tumores Neuroendócrinos/tratamento farmacológico , Tumores Neuroendócrinos/imunologia , Tumores Neuroendócrinos/patologia , Fenótipo , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/imunologia , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/patologia , Microambiente Tumoral , Ensaios Antitumorais Modelo de XenoenxertoRESUMO
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a pulmonary neuroendocrine cancer with very poor prognosis and limited effective therapeutic options. Most patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, and the exact reason for the aggressive and metastatic phenotype of SCLC is completely unknown. Despite a high tumor mutational burden, responses to immune checkpoint blockade are minimal in patients with SCLC. This may reflect defects in immune surveillance. Here we illustrate that evading natural killer (NK) surveillance contributes to SCLC aggressiveness and metastasis, primarily through loss of NK-cell recognition of these tumors by reduction of NK-activating ligands (NKG2DL). SCLC primary tumors expressed very low level of NKG2DL mRNA and SCLC lines express little to no surface NKG2DL at the protein level. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing showed NKG2DL loci in SCLC are inaccessible compared with NSCLC, with few H3K27Ac signals. Restoring NKG2DL in preclinical models suppressed tumor growth and metastasis in an NK cell-dependent manner. Likewise, histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment induced NKG2DL expression and led to tumor suppression by inducing infiltration and activation of NK and T cells. Among all the common tumor types, SCLC and neuroblastoma were the lowest NKG2DL-expressing tumors, highlighting a lineage dependency of this phenotype. In conclusion, these data show that epigenetic silencing of NKG2DL results in a lack of stimulatory signals to engage and activate NK cells, highlighting the underlying immune avoidance of SCLC and neuroblastoma. SIGNIFICANCE: This study discovers in SCLC and neuroblastoma impairment of an inherent mechanism of recognition of tumor cells by innate immunity and proposes that this mechanism can be reactivated to promote immune surveillance.
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Neoplasias Pulmonares , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão , Evasão Tumoral/fisiologia , Animais , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Progressão da Doença , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica/genética , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica/imunologia , Células HEK293 , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidade Classe I/genética , Antígenos de Histocompatibilidade Classe I/metabolismo , Humanos , Imunidade Inata/genética , Imunidade Inata/imunologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/imunologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Camundongos , Camundongos da Linhagem 129 , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Nus , Subfamília K de Receptores Semelhantes a Lectina de Células NK/genética , Subfamília K de Receptores Semelhantes a Lectina de Células NK/metabolismo , Metástase Neoplásica , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/genética , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/imunologia , Carcinoma de Pequenas Células do Pulmão/patologia , Evasão Tumoral/genéticaRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Lung adenocarcinomas harboring EGFR mutations do not respond to immune checkpoint blockade therapy and their EGFR wildtype counterpart. The mechanisms underlying this lack of clinical response have been investigated but remain incompletely understood. METHODS: We analyzed three cohorts of resected lung adenocarcinomas (Profiling of Resistance Patterns of Oncogenic Signaling Pathways in Evaluation of Cancer of Thorax, Immune Genomic Profiling of NSCLC, and The Cancer Genome Atlas) and compared tumor immune microenvironment of EGFR-mutant tumors to EGFR wildtype tumors, to identify actionable regulators to target and potentially enhance the treatment response. RESULTS: EGFR-mutant NSCLC exhibited low programmed death-ligand 1, low tumor mutational burden, decreased number of cytotoxic T cells, and low T cell receptor clonality, consistent with an immune-inert phenotype, though T cell expansion ex vivo was preserved. In an analysis of 75 immune checkpoint genes, the top up-regulated genes in the EGFR-mutant tumors (NT5E and ADORA1) belonged to the CD73/adenosine pathway. Single-cell analysis revealed that the tumor cell population expressed CD73, both in the treatment-naive and resistant tumors. Using coculture systems with EGFR-mutant NSCLC cells, T regulatory cell proportion was decreased with CD73 knockdown. In an immune-competent mouse model of EGFR-mutant lung cancer, the CD73/adenosine pathway was markedly up-regulated and CD73 blockade significantly inhibited tumor growth. CONCLUSIONS: Our work revealed that EGFR-mutant NSCLC has an immune-inert phenotype. We identified the CD73/adenosine pathway as a potential therapeutic target for EGFR-mutant NSCLC.
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Adenocarcinoma de Pulmão , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Adenosina , Animais , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/genética , Receptores ErbB/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Camundongos , Mutação , Microambiente TumoralRESUMO
EGFR inhibition is an effective treatment in the minority of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases harboring EGFR-activating mutations, but not in EGFR wild type (EGFRwt) tumors. Here, we demonstrate that EGFR inhibition triggers an antiviral defense pathway in NSCLC. Inhibiting mutant EGFR triggers Type I IFN-I upregulation via a RIG-I-TBK1-IRF3 pathway. The ubiquitin ligase TRIM32 associates with TBK1 upon EGFR inhibition, and is required for K63-linked ubiquitination and TBK1 activation. Inhibiting EGFRwt upregulates interferons via an NF-κB-dependent pathway. Inhibition of IFN signaling enhances EGFR-TKI sensitivity in EGFR mutant NSCLC and renders EGFRwt/KRAS mutant NSCLC sensitive to EGFR inhibition in xenograft and immunocompetent mouse models. Furthermore, NSCLC tumors with decreased IFN-I expression are more responsive to EGFR TKI treatment. We propose that IFN-I signaling is a major determinant of EGFR-TKI sensitivity in NSCLC and that a combination of EGFR TKI plus IFN-neutralizing antibody could be useful in most NSCLC patients.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas , Receptores ErbB , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Transdução de Sinais , Animais , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Proliferação de Células , Receptores ErbB/antagonistas & inibidores , Receptores ErbB/genética , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Camundongos , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/farmacologiaRESUMO
Cancer is instigated by mutator phenotypes, including deficient mismatch repair and p53-associated chromosomal instability. More recently, a distinct class of cancers was identified with unusually high mutational loads due to heterozygous amino acid substitutions (most commonly P286R) in the proofreading domain of DNA polymerase ε, the leading strand replicase encoded by POLE. Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, but new model systems are needed to recapitulate high mutational burdens characterizing human cancers and permit study of mechanisms underlying clinical responses. Here, we show that activation of a conditional LSL-PoleP286R allele in endometrium is sufficient to elicit in all animals endometrial cancers closely resembling their human counterparts, including very high mutational burden. Diverse investigations uncovered potentially novel aspects of Pole-driven tumorigenesis, including secondary p53 mutations associated with tetraploidy, and cooperation with defective mismatch repair through inactivation of Msh2. Most significantly, there were robust antitumor immune responses with increased T cell infiltrates, accelerated tumor growth following T cell depletion, and unfailing clinical regression following immune checkpoint therapy. This model predicts that human POLE-driven cancers will prove consistently responsive to immune checkpoint blockade. Furthermore, this is a robust and efficient approach to recapitulate in mice the high mutational burdens and immune responses characterizing human cancers.
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DNA Polimerase II/genética , Neoplasias do Endométrio/genética , Imunoterapia , Mutação/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a Poli-ADP-Ribose/genética , Animais , Carcinogênese/genética , Carcinogênese/imunologia , Instabilidade Cromossômica/genética , Instabilidade Cromossômica/imunologia , Reparo de Erro de Pareamento de DNA/genética , Reparo de Erro de Pareamento de DNA/imunologia , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Neoplasias do Endométrio/imunologia , Neoplasias do Endométrio/patologia , Neoplasias do Endométrio/terapia , Endométrio/efeitos dos fármacos , Endométrio/imunologia , Endométrio/metabolismo , Endométrio/patologia , Feminino , Camundongos , FenótipoRESUMO
Defective DNA damage response (DDR) signaling is a common mechanism that initiates and maintains the cellular senescence phenotype. Dysfunctional telomeres activate DDR signaling, genomic instability, and cellular senescence, but the links among these events remains unclear. Here, using an array of biochemical and imaging techniques, including a highly regulatable CRISPR/Cas9 strategy to induce DNA double strand breaks specifically in the telomeres, ChIP, telomere immunofluorescence, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), micronuclei imaging, and the telomere shortest length assay (TeSLA), we show that chromosome mis-segregation due to imperfect DDR signaling in response to dysfunctional telomeres creates a preponderance of chromatin fragments in the cytosol, which leads to a premature senescence phenotype. We found that this phenomenon is caused not by telomere shortening, but by cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) recognizing cytosolic chromatin fragments and then activating the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway and downstream interferon signaling. Significantly, genetic and pharmacological manipulation of cGAS not only attenuated immune signaling, but also prevented premature cellular senescence in response to dysfunctional telomeres. The findings of our study uncover a cellular intrinsic mechanism involving the cGAS-mediated cytosolic self-DNA-sensing pathway that initiates premature senescence independently of telomere shortening.
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Senescência Celular/genética , Ligases/metabolismo , Nucleotídeos Cíclicos/metabolismo , Telômero , Ciclo Celular , Quebras de DNA de Cadeia Dupla , Humanos , Transdução de SinaisRESUMO
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
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KRAS is one of the driver oncogenes in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) but remains refractory to current modalities of targeted pathway inhibition, which include inhibiting downstream kinase MEK to circumvent KRAS activation. Here, we show that pulsatile, rather than continuous, treatment with MEK inhibitors (MEKis) maintains T cell activation and enables their proliferation. Two MEKis, selumetinib and trametinib, induce T cell activation with increased CTLA-4 expression and, to a lesser extent, PD-1 expression on T cells in vivo after cyclical pulsatile MEKi treatment. In addition, the pulsatile dosing schedule alone shows superior anti-tumor effects and delays the emergence of drug resistance. Furthermore, pulsatile MEKi treatment combined with CTLA-4 blockade prolongs survival in mice bearing tumors with mutant Kras. Our results set the foundation and show the importance of a combinatorial therapeutic strategy using pulsatile targeted therapy together with immunotherapy to optimally enhance tumor delay and promote long-term anti-tumor immunity.
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Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/patologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patologia , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras)/genética , Linfócitos T/metabolismo , Animais , Benzimidazóis/farmacologia , Benzimidazóis/uso terapêutico , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/citologia , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/efeitos dos fármacos , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/metabolismo , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/citologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/efeitos dos fármacos , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/metabolismo , Antígeno CTLA-4/metabolismo , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/mortalidade , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/mortalidade , Masculino , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Transgênicos , Receptor de Morte Celular Programada 1/metabolismo , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/farmacologia , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/uso terapêutico , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras)/metabolismo , Piridonas/farmacologia , Piridonas/uso terapêutico , Pirimidinonas/farmacologia , Pirimidinonas/uso terapêutico , Taxa de Sobrevida , Linfócitos T/citologia , Linfócitos T/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Tumor orchestrated metabolic changes in the microenvironment limit generation of anti-tumor immune responses. Availability of arginine, a semi-essential amino acid, is critical for lymphocyte proliferation and function. Levels of arginine are regulated by the enzymes arginase 1,2 and nitric oxide synthase (NOS). However, the role of arginase activity in lung tumor maintenance has not been investigated in clinically relevant orthotopic tumor models. METHODS: RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of sorted cell populations from mouse lung adenocarcinomas derived from immunocompetent genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM)s was performed. To complement mouse studies, a patient tissue microarray consisting of 150 lung adenocarcinomas, 103 squamous tumors, and 54 matched normal tissue were stained for arginase, CD3, and CD66b by multiplex immunohistochemistry. Efficacy of a novel arginase inhibitor compound 9 in reversing arginase mediated T cell suppression was determined in splenocyte ex vivo assays. Additionally, the anti-tumor activity of this compound was determined in vitro and in an autochthonous immunocompetent KrasG12D GEMM of lung adenocarcinoma model. RESULTS: Analysis of RNA-seq of sorted myeloid cells suggested that arginase expression is elevated in myeloid cells in the tumor as compared to the normal lung tissue. Accordingly, in the patient samples arginase 1 expression was mainly localized in the granulocytic myeloid cells and significantly elevated in both lung adenocarcinoma and squamous tumors as compared to the controls. Our ex vivo analysis demonstrated that myeloid derived suppressor cell (MDSC)s cause T cell suppression by arginine depletion, and suppression of arginase activity by a novel ARG1/2 inhibitor, compound 9, led to restoration of T cell function by increasing arginine. Treatment of KrasG12D GEMM of lung cancer model with compound 9 led to a significant tumor regression associated with increased T cell numbers and function, while it had no activity across several murine and human non-small cell (NSCLC) lung cancer lines in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: We show that arginase expression is elevated in mouse and patient lung tumors. In a KRASG12D GEMM arginase inhibition diminished growth of established tumors. Our data suggest arginase as an immunomodulatory target that should further be investigated in lung tumors with high arginase activity.
Assuntos
Arginase/antagonistas & inibidores , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/enzimologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/enzimologia , Células Mieloides/enzimologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Animais , Arginase/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/genética , Carcinoma Pulmonar de Células não Pequenas/imunologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/imunologia , Camundongos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , RNA-SeqRESUMO
Therapeutic blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis is recognized as an effective treatment for numerous cancer types. However, only a subset of patients respond to this treatment, warranting a greater understanding of the biological mechanisms driving immune evasion via PD-1/PD-L1 signaling and other T-cell suppressive pathways. We previously identified a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with human papillomavirus integration in the PD-L1 locus upstream of the transmembrane domain-encoding region, suggesting expression of a truncated form of PD-L1 (Parfenov et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111(43):15544-15549, 2014). In this study, we extended this observation by performing a computational analysis of 33 other cancer types as well as human cancer cell lines, and identified additional PD-L1 isoforms with an exon 4 enrichment expressed in 20 cancers and human cancer cell lines. We demonstrate that cancer cell lines with high expression levels of exon 4-enriched PD-L1 generate a secreted form of PD-L1. Further biochemical studies of exon 4-enriched PD-L1 demonstrated that this form is secreted and maintains the capacity to bind PD-1 as well as to serve as a negative regulator on T cell function, as measured by inhibition of IL-2 and IFNg secretion. Overall, we have demonstrated that truncated forms of PD-L1 exist in numerous cancer types, and have validated that truncated PD-L1 can be secreted and negatively regulate T cell function.
Assuntos
Processamento Alternativo , Antígeno B7-H1/genética , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Éxons , Humanos , Interferon gama/antagonistas & inibidores , Linfocinas/farmacologia , Isoformas de Proteínas/sangue , Isoformas de Proteínas/isolamento & purificaçãoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The PD-1-blocking antibody nivolumab persists in patients several weeks after the last infusion. However, no study has systematically evaluated the maximum duration that the antibody persists on T cells or the association between this duration and residual therapeutic efficacy or potential adverse events. METHODS: To define the duration of binding and residual efficacy of nivolumab after discontinuation, we developed a simplified strategy for T cell monitoring and used it to analyze T cells from peripheral blood from 11 non-small cell lung cancer patients previously treated with nivolumab. To determine the suitability of our method for other applications, we compared transcriptome profiles between nivolumab-bound and nivolumab-unbound CD8 T cells. We also applied T cell monitoring in 2 nivolumab-treated patients who developed progressive lung tumors during long-term follow-up. RESULTS: Prolonged nivolumab binding was detected more than 20 weeks after the last infusion, regardless of the total number of nivolumab infusions (2-15 doses) or type of subsequent treatment, in 9 of the 11 cases in which long-term monitoring was possible. Ki-67 positivity, a proliferation marker, in T cells decreased in patients with progressive disease. Transcriptome profiling identified the signals regulating activation of nivolumab-bound T cells, which may contribute to nivolumab resistance. In 2 patients who restarted nivolumab, T cell proliferation markers exhibited the opposite trend and correlated with clinical response. CONCLUSIONS: Although only a few samples were analyzed, our strategy of monitoring both nivolumab binding and Ki-67 in T cells might help determine residual efficacy under various types of concurrent or subsequent treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry, UMIN000024623. FUNDING: This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (JP17K16045, JP18H05282, and JP15K09220), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP17cm0106310, JP18cm0106335 and JP18cm059042), and Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (JPMJCR16G2).