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CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8⁺ T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment has demonstrated excellent medical effects in oncology, and it is one of the most sought after immunotherapies for tumors. However, there are several issues with ICB therapy, including low response rates and a lack of effective efficacy predictors. Gasdermin-mediated pyroptosis is a typical inflammatory death mode. We discovered that increased expression of gasdermin protein was linked to a favorable tumor immune microenvironment and prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We used the mouse HNSCC cell lines 4MOSC1 (responsive to CTLA-4 blockade) and 4MOSC2 (resistant to CTLA-4 blockade) orthotopic models and demonstrated that CTLA-4 blockade treatment induced gasdermin-mediated pyroptosis of tumor cells, and gasdermin expression positively correlated to the effectiveness of CTLA-4 blockade treatment. We found that CTLA-4 blockade activated CD8⁺ T cells and increased the levels of interferon γ (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) cytokines in the tumor microenvironment. These cytokines synergistically activated the STAT1/IRF1 axis to trigger tumor cell pyroptosis and the release of large amounts of inflammatory substances and chemokines. Collectively, our findings revealed that CTLA-4 blockade triggered tumor cells pyroptosis via the release of IFN-γ and TNF-α from activated CD8⁺ T cells, providing a new perspective of ICB.

SUBMITTER: Wang S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10362385 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Wang Shuo S Wu Zhi-Zhong ZZ Zhu Su-Wen SW Wan Shu-Cheng SC Zhang Meng-Jie MJ Zhang Bo-Xin BX Yang Qi-Chao QC Xiao Yao Y Li Hao H Mao Liang L Wang Zhi-Yong ZY Gutkind J Silvio JS Sun Zhi-Jun ZJ

Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy 20230303 7

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment has demonstrated excellent medical effects in oncology, and it is one of the most sought after immunotherapies for tumors. However, there are several issues with ICB therapy, including low response rates and a lack of effective efficacy predictors. Gasdermin-mediated pyroptosis is a typical inflammatory death mode. We discovered that increased expression of gasdermin protein was linked to a favorable tumor immune microenvironment and prognosis in head a ...[more]

PMID: 36869589

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Project description:BackgroundImmune cell heterogenicity is known to determine the therapeutic response to cancer progression. Neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy (NACI) has shown clinical benefits in some patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but the underlying mechanism behind this clinical response is unknown. The efficacy of NACI needs to be potentiated by identifying accurate biomarkers to predict clinical responses. Here, we attempted to identify molecules predicting NACI response in advanced HNSCC.MethodsWe performed combined single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and multiplex immunofluorescence (mIHC) staining with tumor samples derived from NACI-treated HNSCC patients to identify a new tumor-infiltrating cell (TIL) subtype, CD103+ CD8+ TILs, associated with clinical response, while both in vitro and in vivo assays were carried out to determine its antitumor efficiency. The regulatory mechanism of the CD103+ CD8+ TILs population was examined by performing cell-cell interaction analysis of the scRNA-seq data and spatial analysis of the mIHC images.ResultsWe established intratumoral CD103+ CD8+ TILs density as a determinant of NACI efficacy in cancers. Our scRNA-seq results indicated that the population of CD103+ CD8+ TILs was dramatically increased in the responders of NACI-treated HNSCC patients, while mIHC analysis confirmed the correlation between intratumoral CD103+ CD8+ TILs density and NACI efficacy in HNSCC patients. Further receiver operating characteristic curve analysis defined this TIL subset as a potent marker to predict patient response to NACI. Functional assays showed that CD103+ CD8+ TILs were tumor-reactive T cells, while programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) blockade enhanced CD103+ CD8+ TILs cytotoxicity against tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, targeting the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2-positive (TREM2+ ) macrophages might enhance the population of CD103+ CD8+ TILs and facilitate antitumor immunity during NACI treatment.ConclusionsOur study highlights the impact of intratumoral CD103+ CD8+ TILs density on NACI efficacy in different cancers, while the efforts to elevate its population warrant further clinical investigation.

Project description:BackgroundThe occurrence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is closely related to the immune system. The integration of traditional treatment methods and immunotherapy will be the future development direction of cancer treatment. But immunotherapy also has its limitations: a lot of basic research is going on, but the translation from basic to clinical is still not enough, and there are still few drugs approved for use.This study aimed to explore the clinical significance of the tumor immune microenvironment in HNSCC.MethodsSix clinically obtained postoperative cases were analyzed using multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) to observe the tumor immune microenvironment and analyze infiltrating immune cells. Correlations between infiltrating immune cells from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and clinicopathological features of 510 HNSCC patients were then analyzed. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to detect the relationship between the expression of different immune cells and the prognosis of HNSCC patients, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to analyze the prognostic factors associated with HNSCC patients. We validated the prognostic and predictive accuracy based on the expression of CD8+ T-cells in an independent group of 510 patients.ResultsWe detected infiltration of CD8+ T cells, NK cells, and macrophages in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma by multiplex immunofluorescence. The infiltration of the three types of immune cells in the tumor stroma was significantly higher than in the tumor parenchyma. Our results also showed the infiltration of CD8+ T cells was associated with prognosis, and the COX regression model showed CD8+ T cells were an independent prognostic factor in HNSCC patients. The higher density of infiltrating CD8+ T cells had the better prognosis. In addition, we developed a nomogram for clinical use that integrated the CD8+ T-cells-based classifier and three clinicopathological risk factors to predict the prognosis of HNSCC patients.ConclusionsCD8+ T-cell exhaustion in the tumor microenvironment of HNSCC determines poor prognosis and can be combined with the tumor stage to improve the accuracy of prognosis assessment in HNSCC patients.

Project description:BackgroundHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a life-threatening disease with poor prognosis. Pyroptosis has been recently disclosed as a programmed cell death triggered by invasive infection, involved in cancer development. However, the prognosis role of pyroptosis-related genes in HNSCC has not been discussed.MethodsThe RNA sequence data of pyroptosis-related genes were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Cox regression and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis were performed to screen the HNSCC survival-related signature genes. We established a HNSCC risk model with the identified prognostic genes, then divided the HNSCC patients into low- and high-risk subgroups according to median risk score. Moreover, we utilized Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset to validate the risk model. Go and KEGG analyses were conducted to reveal the potential function of differential expression of genes that identified between low- and high-risk subgroups. ESTIMATE algorithm was performed to investigate the immune infiltration of tumors. Correlation between signature gene expression and drug-sensitivity was disclosed by Spearman's analysis.ResultsWe constructed a HNSCC risk model with identified seven pyroptosis-related genes (CASP1, GSDME, IL6, NLRP1, NLRP2, NLRP6, and NOD2) as prognostic signature genes. High-risk subgroup of HNSCC patients in TCGA cohort correlated with lower survival probability than patients from low-risk subgroup (p < .001), and the result is verified with GEO dataset. In addition, 161 genes were identified differentially expressed between the low- and high-risk subgroups in the TCGA cohort, mainly related to immune response. Higher PD-L1 expression level was found in the high-risk subgroup that indicated the possible employment of immune checkpoint inhibitors. IL6 was positively correlated with WZ3105 and MPS-1-IN-1 in the cancer therapeutics response portal database.ConclusionWe built and verified a risk model for HNSCC prognosis using seven pyroptosis-related signature genes, which could predict the overall survival of HNSCC patients and facilitate treatment.

Project description:BackgroundTherapy resistance, which leads to the development of loco-regional relapses and distant metastases after treatment, constitutes one of the major problems that head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients currently face. Thus, novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Targeted drug delivery to the chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) represents a promising approach for HNSCC management. In this context, we have developed the self-assembling protein nanotoxins T22-PE24-H6 and T22-DITOX-H6, which incorporate the de-immunized catalytic domain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PE24) exotoxin A and the diphtheria exotoxin (DITOX) domain, respectively. Both nanotoxins contain the T22 peptide ligand to specifically target CXCR4-overexpressing HNSCC cells. In this study, we evaluate the potential use of T22-PE24-H6 and T22-DITOX-H6 nanotoxins for the treatment of HNSCC.MethodsT22-PE24-H6 and T22-DITOX-H6 CXCR4-dependent cytotoxic effect was evaluated in vitro in two different HNSCC cell lines. Both nanotoxins cell death mechanisms were assessed in HNSCC cell lines by phase-contrast microscopy, AnnexinV/ propidium iodide (PI) staining, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assays, and western blotting. Nanotoxins antitumor effect in vivo was studied in a CXCR4+ HNSCC subcutaneous mouse model. Immunohistochemistry, histopathology, and toxicity analyses were used to evaluate both nanotoxins antitumor effect and possible treatment toxicity. GSMDE and CXCR4 expression in HNSCC patient tumor samples was also assessed by immunohistochemical staining.ResultsFirst, we found that both nanotoxins exhibit a potent CXCR4-dependent cytotoxic effect in vitro. Importantly, nanotoxin treatment triggered caspase-3/Gasdermin E (GSDME)-mediated pyroptosis. The activation of this alternative cell death pathway that differs from traditional apoptosis, becomes a promising strategy to bypass therapy resistance. In addition, T22-PE24-H6 and T22-DITOX-H6 displayed a potent antitumor effect in the absence of systemic toxicity in a CXCR4+ subcutaneous HNSCC mouse model. Lastly, GSDME was found to be overexpressed in tumor tissue from HNSCC patients, highlighting the relevance of this strategy.ConclusionsAltogether, our results show that T22-PE24-H6 and T22-DITOX-H6 represent a promising therapy for HNSCC patients. Remarkably, this is the first study showing that both nanotoxins are capable of activating caspase-3/GSDME-dependent pyroptosis, opening a novel avenue for HNSCC treatment.

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CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8⁺ T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

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CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

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CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8+ T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Publications

CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets

CTLA-4 blockade induces tumor pyroptosis via CD8⁺ T cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.