RESUMEN
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive and highly metastatic type of tumor. TNBC is often enriched in tumor-infiltrating neutrophils (TINs), which support cancer growth in part by counteracting tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Prior studies identified the enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) as a pro-tumor methyltransferase in primary and metastatic TNBCs. We hypothesized that EZH2 inhibition in TNBC cells per se would exert antitumor activity by altering the tumor immune microenvironment. To test this hypothesis, we used CRISPR to generate EZH2 gene knockout (KO) and overexpressing (OE) lines from parent (wild-type-WT) 4T1 cells, an established murine TNBC model, resulting in EZH2 protein KO and OE, respectively. In vitro, EZH2 KO and OE cells showed early, transient changes in replicative capacity and invasiveness, and marked changes in surface marker profile and cytokine/chemokine secretion compared to WT cells. In vivo, EZH2 KO cells showed significantly reduced primary tumor growth and a 10-fold decrease in lung metastasis compared to WT cells, while EZH2 OE cells were unchanged. Compared to WT tumors, TIN:TIL ratios were greatly reduced in EZH2 KO tumors but unchanged in EZH2 OE tumors. Thus, EZH2 is key to 4T1 aggressiveness as its tumor-intrinsic knockout alters their in vitro secretome and in vivo primary tumor growth, TIN/TIL poise, and metastasis.
Asunto(s)
Proteína Potenciadora del Homólogo Zeste 2 , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Linfocitos Infiltrantes de Tumor , Neoplasias de la Mama Triple Negativas , Proteína Potenciadora del Homólogo Zeste 2/metabolismo , Proteína Potenciadora del Homólogo Zeste 2/genética , Neoplasias de la Mama Triple Negativas/patología , Neoplasias de la Mama Triple Negativas/metabolismo , Neoplasias de la Mama Triple Negativas/genética , Neoplasias de la Mama Triple Negativas/inmunología , Animales , Neoplasias Pulmonares/secundario , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patología , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Neoplasias Pulmonares/metabolismo , Neoplasias Pulmonares/inmunología , Ratones , Femenino , Línea Celular Tumoral , Linfocitos Infiltrantes de Tumor/inmunología , Linfocitos Infiltrantes de Tumor/metabolismo , Microambiente Tumoral/inmunología , Proliferación Celular , Humanos , Ratones Endogámicos BALB C , Técnicas de Inactivación de Genes , Modelos Animales de Enfermedad , Regulación Neoplásica de la Expresión GénicaRESUMEN
Most repurposed drugs have proved ineffective for treating COVID-19. We evaluated median effective and toxic concentrations (EC50, CC50) of 49 drugs, mostly from previous clinical trials, in Vero cells. Ratios of reported unbound peak plasma concentrations, (Cmax)/EC50, were used to predict the potential in vivo efficacy. The 20 drugs with the highest ratios were retested in human Calu-3 and Caco-2 cells, and their CC50 was determined in an expanded panel of cell lines. Many of the 20 drugs with the highest ratios were inactive in human Calu-3 and Caco-2 cells. Antivirals effective in controlled clinical trials had unbound Cmax/EC50 ≥ 6.8 in Calu-3 or Caco-2 cells. EC50 of nucleoside analogs were cell dependent. This approach and earlier availability of more relevant cultures could have reduced the number of unwarranted clinical trials.