Blocking expression of inhibitory receptor NKG2A overcomes tumor resistance to NK cells
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE127081 | GEO | 2019/05/17
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Checkpoint blockage has revolutionized cancer treatment. NKG2A is an inhibitory receptor expressed by cytotoxic lymphocytes, including NK cells. In contrast to other checkpoint inhibitory antibodies, anti-NKG2A antibodies have shown only limited success. Here, we designed a Cas9-based strategy to delete KLRC1 from human NK cells. Electroporation of KLRC1-targeting Cas9-RNP efficiently eliminated NKG2A expression from primary human NK cells. NKG2A-deficient NK cells showed normal proliferation, only minor transcriptional changes related to enhanced NK cell activation and maintained their phenotype and licensing status. Genetic deletion of NKG2A fully bypassed HLA-E inhibition and further enhanced NK cell activity against various tumor cell lines, thereby outperforming anti-NKG2A antibodies. In combination with antibody-coating of tumor cells to induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, genetic deletion of NKG2A independently promoted cytotoxicity. Thus, Cas9-mediated targeting of NKG2A is an effective way to target this important inhibitory checkpoint. This technique is easily amenable to adoptive cell therapy in the clinical setting, where NKG2A deletion will promote anti-tumor responses and may help NK cells to better infiltrate and persist in an inhibitory tumor microenvironment.
2021-09-01 | GSE178566 | GEO
Project description:Cancer immunotherapy is gaining increasing attention. However, immune checkpoints are exploited by cancer cells to evade anti-tumor immunotherapy. Here, we knocked out NKG2A, an immune checkpoint expressed on natural killer (NK) cells, in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) and differentiated these hPSCs into NK (PSC-NK) cells. We show that NKG2A knockout (KO) enhances the anti-tumor and anti-viral capabilities of PSC-NK cells. NKG2A KO endows PSC-NK cells with higher cytotoxicity against HLA-E-expressing glioblastoma (GBM) cells, leukemia cells, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected cells in vitro. The NKG2A KO PSC-NK cells also exerted potent anti-tumor activity in vivo, leading to substantially suppressed tumor progression and prolonged survival of tumor-bearing mice in a xenograft GBM mouse model. These findings underscore the potential of PSC-NK cells with immune checkpoint KO as a promising cell-based immunotherapy. The unlimited supply and ease of genetic engineering of hPSCs makes genetically engineered PSC-NK an attractive option for easily accessible "off-the-shelf" cancer immunotherapy.
2024-10-18 | GSE241039 | GEO
Project description:Blocking expression of inhibitory receptor NKG2A overcomes tumor resistance to NK cells
| PRJNA524164 | ENA
Project description:Tsao H, Anderson S, Finn KJ, Perera J, Pass LF, Schneider EM, Jiang A, Fetterman R, Chuong CL, Kozuma K, Stickler MM, Creixell M, Klaeger S, Phulphagar KM, Rachimi S, Verzani EK, Olsson N, Dubrot J, Pech MF, Silkworth W, Lane-Reticker SK, Allen PM, Ibrahim K, Knudsen NH, Cheng AY, Long AH, Ebrahimi-Nik H, Kim SY, Du PP, Iracheta-Vellve A, Robitschek EJ, Suermondt JSMT, Davis TGR, Wolfe CH, Atluri T, Olander KE, Rush JS, Sundberg TB, McAllister FE, Abelin JG, Firestone A, Stokoe D, Carr SA, Harding FA, Yates KB, Manguso RT. 2024
New targets that enhance anti-tumor immunity must be identified to improve the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. Here we show that loss of endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase (ERAP) family proteins improves anti-tumor immunity and synergizes with immune checkpoint blockade. Mechanistically, we show that loss of ERAP inactivates the HLA-E/NKG2A checkpoint, which normally restrains tumor killing by both CD8+ T cells and NK cells. The inhibitory activity of HLA-E is dependent on its presentation of a restricted set of invariant epitopes which form the binding surface for the NKG2A/CD94 receptor complex. Using genetic screening, in vivo models, cell-based assays, and immunopeptidomics, we show that loss of ERAP activity prevents the processing of these invariant peptides and alters the presented peptidome of both HLA-E and classical MHC-I. HLA-E neo-peptides presented after ERAP deletion are unable to bind the NKG2A/CD94 receptor, rendering tumor cells highly susceptible to killing by NKG2A+ cytotoxic T and NK cells. Thus, loss of ERAP phenocopies the loss or inhibition of the HLA-E/NKG2A pathway and represents an attractive therapeutic approach to inhibit this critical checkpoint. More broadly, this work identifies ERAP1/2 as druggable intracellular enzymes that could be targeted using small molecules to inactivate a cell-surface inhibitory pathway and represents a novel approach to therapeutic modulation of immune responses.
2024-05-10 | MSV000094736 | MassIVE
Project description:Accumulating evidences suggest that colorectal cancer (CRC) progression is not solely determined by the genetic abnormalities of the tumor cells but also by the host response. Indeed, recent studies in CRC have associated improved survival with a high number of tumor-infiltrating (TIL) memory and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, suggesting a link between tumor progression and in situ T cell response. Gene expression profiling studies have clearly isolated a well-known subgroup of CRC characterized by microsatellite instability (MSI) CRC, associated with a strong immune response signature involving both Th1/cytotoxic and immune evasion pathways. Moreover, the investigators have previously shown that HLA-E/β2m is overexpressed by tumor cells in roughly 20% of CRC and is associated with a worse prognosis, most likely due to NK and T effector cell functions upon engagement with the inhibitory NK receptor CD94/NKG2A. However, our recent results on an enlarger cohort of patients suggest that if this observation holds true for MSS CRC, HLA-E over-expression is inversely associated with a good prognosis in MSI CRC. Thus, the phenotype and function of TIL, depending on the MSI/MSS status of CRC have to be precised. The investigators hypothesized that in MSI CRC, known to express a high number of MSI-H related frameshift peptides which represent a pool of tumor specific antigens, HLA-E could present peptides to TCR of non conventional CD8+ HLA-E-restricted alpha-betaT cells (also expressing CD94), then inducing a strong antitumor cytolytic activity. Therefore, the aim of this project is to determine the exact phenotype, function and specificity of the CD94+ TIL in CRC, depending on both the HLA-E and the MSI/MSS status of tumor cells. These results could impact the clinical practice as anti-NKG2A monoclonal antibodies or frameshift peptide based immunotherapy that could be promising new therapeutic options in CRC patients.
| 2231092 | ecrin-mdr-crc
Project description:Blockade of NKG2A/HLA-E interaction is a promising strategy to unleash the anti-tumor response. Yet the regulation of NKG2A expression on CD8+ lymphocytes and the T cell anti-tumor response are still poorly understood. Here, by performing CITE-seq on human T cells derived from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and colorectal cancer, we show that NKG2A expression is induced in tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells differentiating into cytotoxic, CD39+CD103+ double positive (DP) T cells. This developmental trajectory lead to TCR repertoire overlap between the NKG2A– and NKG2A+ DP CD8 T cells, suggesting shared antigen specificities. Mechanistically, IL-12 is essential for the expression of the NKG2A on naïve CD8+ T cells in a CD40/CD40L- dependent manner, in conjunction with TCR stimulation and increased TGF-β levels. Our study thus reveals that NKG2A is induced by IL-12 on human tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells exposed to a TGF-b-rich environment, highlighting an underappreciated immuno-regulatory feedback loop dependent on IL-12 stimulation.
2024-10-08 | GSE278692 | GEO
Project description:Tumor resistance to immune cells remains a major obstacle for successful treatment. NK cells are emerging tools for cancer therapy. However, due to differential and subset-specific expression of inhibitory NK cell receptors, often only subsets of NK cells exert reactivity against particular cancer types. Using a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 knockout (KO) screen in melanoma, we revealed resistance factors against NK cell attack and evaluated their differential impact on NK cell subpopulations. We show that melanoma cells deficient in antigen-presenting machinery or the IFNγ signaling pathway displayed enhanced sensitivity to NK cell killing. Treatment with IFNγ induced melanoma cell resistance that depended on B2M required for both classical and non-classical MHC-I expression. HLA-E mediated melanoma cell resistance to NKG2A+ KIR-, and partially to NKG2A+ KIR+ NK cells. Treatment of NK cells with the NKG2A blocking monalizumab resulted in enhanced NK cell reactivity to similar extent as deletion of HLA-E in melanoma cells. The combination of monalizumab with lirilumab, blocking KIR2 receptors, together with DX9, an anti-KIR3DL1 mAb, was required to restore the response of all NK cells against IFNγ-pretreated tumor cells of different origins. Our data reveal insights into NK cell subset reactivity and strategies how to leverage their full anti-tumor potential.
2024-07-10 | GSE261626 | GEO
Project description:Previous research on adaptive NK cells in rhesus macaques suffered from the lack of specific antibodies to differentiate between inhibitory CD94/NKG2A and stimulatory CD94/NKG2C heterodimeric receptors. Recently we reported an expansion of NKG2C receptor-encoding genes in rhesus macaques, but their expression and functional role on primary NK cells remained unknown due to this deficit. Thus, we established monoclonal antibodies 4A8 and 7B1 which show identical specificities and bind to both NKG2C-1 and NKG2C-2 but neither react with NKG2C-3 nor NKG2A on transfected cell lines. Using a combination of 4A8 and Z199 antibodies in multicolor flow cytometry we detected broad expression (4-73%) of NKG2C-1 and/or NKG2C-2 (NKG2C-1/2) on primary NK cells in rhesus macaques from our breeding colony. Stratifying our data to CMV-positive and CMV-negative animals, we noticed a higher proportion (23-73%) in primary NK cells expressing NKG2C-1/2 in CMV+ as compared to CMV- macaques (4-5%). These NKG2C-1/2-positive NK cells in CMV+ macaques are characterized by lower expression of IL12RB2, ZBTB16 and SH2D1B as well as high expression of IFN-gamma, indicating that antibody 4A8 detects CMV-associated adaptive NK cells. Single cell RNA seq data of 4A8-positive NK cells from a CMV-positive individual demonstrated that a high proportion of these adaptive NK cells transcribe in addition to NKG2C-1/2 also NKG2C-3, but interestingly NKG2A as well. Remarkably, NKG2C-1 and in particular NKG2C-2 have a higher affinity to Mamu-E as compared to NKG2A. Primary NK cells exposed to Mamu-E-expressing target cells displayed strong degranulation as well as IFN-gamma expression of 4A8+ adaptive NK cells of rhCMV+ animals that was not evident in rhCMV- animals. Thus, despite co-expression of inhibitory and stimulatory CD94/NKG2 receptors the higher number of different stimulatory NKG2C receptors and their higher binding avidity to Mamu-E outreach inhibitory signaling via NKG2A. These data demonstrate the evolutionary conservation of the CMV-driven development of NKG2C-positive adaptive NK cells with particular molecular signatures in primates and with changes in gene copy numbers and regulation and in ligand binding strength of NKG2C isotypes. Thus, rhesus macaques represent a suitable and valuable nonhuman primate animal model to study the CMV-NKG2C liaison in vivo.
2022-09-07 | GSE211613 | GEO
Project description:Primary chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cells show strong cytotoxic efficacy against acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in vivo. However, NK cell-mediated tumor killing is often impaired by tumor-mediated immune cell inactivation. Here, we report a novel strategy to overcome NK cell inhibition caused by the immune checkpoint NKG2A, which interacts with HLA-E expressed on AML blasts. We generated AML-specific CD33-directed CAR (CAR33)-KLRC1ko-NK cells with CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing of the NKG2A-encoding KLRC1 gene. Single-cell multi-omic analyses revealed a higher proportion of activated cells in CAR33-NK- and CAR33-KLRC1ko-NK pools, which were preserved following AML-cell contact. This activated state of the CAR33-KLRC1ko-NK cells has been translated into improved antileukemic activity in vitro and in vivo against AML cell lines and primary blasts. This dual modification of primary NK cells has the potential to bypass the suppressive effect not only of AML but also in a broad range of other cancer identities.
2024-07-16 | GSE221552 | GEO
Project description:Natural Killer (NK) cells are the first lymphocyte population to reconstitute early after non myelo-ablative and T cell-replete haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantations (h-HSCTs) with post-transplant infusion of cyclophosphamide. The present study characterizes the transient and predominant expansion starting from the 2nd week after h-HSCT of a donor-derived unconventional subset of CD56dim/CD16neg (uCD56dim) NK cells expressing remarkable high levels of NKG2A and low levels of NKp46. Both transcription and phenotypic profiles indicated that uCD56dim NK cells are a distinct NK cell subpopulation with features of late differentiation, yet retaining proliferative capability and functional plasticity to generate conventional CD56bright/CD16pos NK cells in response to IL-15 plus IL-18. uCD56dim NK cells represent by far the largest NK cell subset detectable in the following 7 weeks after h-HSCT and they also express high levels of the activating receptors NKGD and NKp30 as well as of the lytic granules Granzyme-B and Perforin. Nonetheless, uCD56dim NK cells displayed a defective cytotoxicity that could be reversed by blocking the inhibitory receptor CD94/NKG2A. These data open new important perspectives to better understand the ontogenesis/homeostasis of human NK cells and to develop a novel immune-therapeutic approach by targeting the inhibitory NKG2A check point, thus enhancing NK cell alloreactivity early after h-HSCT.
2018-05-17 | GSE107021 | GEO