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MAP Kinase inhibition depletes tumor-infiltrating macrophages in mouse pancreatic cancer [Verona]

ABSTRACT: The MAP Kinase pathway is the index oncogenic signaling towards which many compounds have been developed for the treatment of KRAS-driven cancers, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). How targeted MEK1/2 inhibition (MEKi) alters the tumor-microenvironment (TME) of PDA is poorly understood. Here, we showed that transcriptional signatures of MAP Kinase activation are enriched in aggressive human PDA subtype, while short term MEKi treatment in mouse PDA induced subtype switching. Moreover, MEKi induced depletion of tumor-infiltrating macrophages, while augmenting infiltration by neutrophils. Depletion of macrophages is observed early during in vivo treatment and is at least partially due to their higher sensitivity to MEKi. Since tumor-associated macrophages are consistently reported to interfere with gemcitabine uptake by PDA cells, we tested a sequential combination of MEKi and gemcitabine, which showed superior antitumor activity in vivo. These findings suggest that MEKi-induced TME remodeling might be exploited to increase therapeutic responses in PDA.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE138477 | GEO | 2023/12/31

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Cancer types with lower mutational load and a non-permissive tumor microenvironment are intrinsically resistant to immune checkpoint blockade. While the combination of cytostatic drugs and immunostimulatory antibodies constitutes an attractive concept for overcoming this refractoriness, suppression of immune cell function by cytostatic drugs may limit therapeutic efficacy. Here we show that targeted inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase (MEK) does not impair dendritic cell-mediated T-cell priming and activation. Accordingly, combining MEK inhibitors (MEKi) with agonist antibodies (Abs) targeting the immunostimulatory CD40 receptor resulted in potent synergistic anti-tumor efficacy. Detailed analysis of the mechanism of action of MEKi GDC-0623 by means of flow cytometric analysis of the tumor immune infiltrate and whole tumor transcriptomics showed that, in addition to its cytostatic impact on tumor cells, this drug exerts multiple pro-immunogenic effects, including the suppression of M2-type macrophages, myeloid derived suppressor cells and CD4+ T-regulatory cells. In addition, MEKi was found to induce tumor-cell intrinsic interferon signaling, which contributed to antigen presentation by tumor cells. Finally, the tumoridical impact of MEKi involves the activation of multiple pro-inflammatory pathways involved in immune cell effector function in the tumor microenvironment. Our data therefore indicate that the combination of MEK inhibition with agonist anti-CD40 Ab is a promising therapeutic concept, especially for the treatment of mutant Kras-driven tumors such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. We used microarrays to monitor transcriptional and cell-type composition changes in murine transplantable tumor models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA30364), colon cancer (MC38) and melanoma (B16-OVA) upon treatment with MEK inhibitor (GDC-0623), chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine (GEM), anti-CD40 antibody or the combination of GDC-0623 or chemotherapy Gemcitabine (GEM) and anti-CD40 antibody.

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MAP Kinase inhibition depletes tumor-infiltrating macrophages in mouse pancreatic cancer [Verona]

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