RESUMO
Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer with limited therapeutic options. Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells with strong anti-tumor activity and may offer a promising treatment strategy for GBM. We compared the anti-GBM activity of NK cells engineered to express interleukin (IL)-15 or IL-21. Using multiple in vivo models, IL-21 NK cells were superior to IL-15 NK cells both in terms of safety and long-term anti-tumor activity, with locoregionally administered IL-15 NK cells proving toxic and ineffective at tumor control. IL-21 NK cells displayed a unique chromatin accessibility signature, with CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins (C/EBP), especially CEBPD, serving as key transcription factors regulating their enhanced function. Deletion of CEBPD resulted in loss of IL-21 NK cell potency while its overexpression increased NK cell long-term cytotoxicity and metabolic fitness. These results suggest that IL-21, through C/EBP transcription factors, drives epigenetic reprogramming of NK cells, enhancing their anti-tumor efficacy against GBM.
Assuntos
Neoplasias Encefálicas , Proteína delta de Ligação ao Facilitador CCAAT , Glioblastoma , Interleucinas , Células Matadoras Naturais , Células Matadoras Naturais/imunologia , Células Matadoras Naturais/metabolismo , Glioblastoma/imunologia , Glioblastoma/genética , Glioblastoma/patologia , Glioblastoma/terapia , Interleucinas/genética , Interleucinas/metabolismo , Interleucinas/imunologia , Humanos , Animais , Camundongos , Proteína delta de Ligação ao Facilitador CCAAT/metabolismo , Proteína delta de Ligação ao Facilitador CCAAT/genética , Neoplasias Encefálicas/imunologia , Neoplasias Encefálicas/genética , Neoplasias Encefálicas/patologia , Neoplasias Encefálicas/terapia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Interleucina-15/genética , Interleucina-15/metabolismo , Interleucina-15/imunologia , Ensaios Antitumorais Modelo de XenoenxertoRESUMO
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a high-grade, aggressive brain tumor with dismal median survival time of 15 months. Chromosome 6q (Ch6q) is a hotspot of genomic alterations, which is commonly deleted or hyper-methylated in GBM. Two neighboring genes in this region, QKI and PRKN have been appointed as tumor suppressors in GBM. While a genetically modified mouse model (GEMM) of GBM has been successfully generated with Qk deletion in the central nervous system (CNS), in vivo genetic evidence supporting the tumor suppressor function of Prkn has not been established. In the present study, we generated a mouse model with Prkn-null allele and conditional Trp53 and Pten deletions in the neural stem cells (NSCs) and compared the tumorigenicity of this model to our previous GBM model with Qk deletion within the same system. We find that Qk but not Prkn is the potent tumor suppressor in the frequently altered Ch6q region in GBM.