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Sensory nerves in melanoma impede the formation of tertiary lymphoid structures and anti-tumor immune responses

ABSTRACT: Utilizing surgical and chemical skin sensory denervation methods, we show that afferent neurons support the growth of melanoma tumors in vivo. We demonstrate that sensory innervation limits the activation of effective anti-tumor immune response. Specifically, sensory ablation led to improved leukocyte recruitment and infiltration into tumors, decreased intratumoral lymphoid and myeloid immunosuppressive cells, and the activation of T effector cells within the TME. We found that cutaneous sensory nerves hinder the maturation of intratumoral high endothelial venules and the formation of mature tertriary lymphoid-like structures containing organized clusters of CD4+ T cells and B cells. Denervation further increased T cell clonality and expanded the B cell repertoire in the TME. Importantly, CD8a depletion prevented the denervation-dependent anti-tumor effects. Finally, we observed that the gene signatures associated with immune function and sensory innervation were inversely correlated in human primary cutaneous melanomas, and the latter was a negative prognostic marker of the overall survival in the examined cohort. Our results suggest that tumor-associated sensory neurons negatively regulate the development of effective anti-tumor immune responses, thereby defining a novel target for therapeutic intervention in the cancer setting.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE193065 | GEO | 2023/02/20

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Immunotherapy provides an alternative approach for cancer treatment. However, in-depth analyses of the effects of immunotherapy on the tumor microenvironment (TME) have not been conducted in non-melanoma tumors. Here we describe changes in the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) TME following immunotherapy treatment, and show for the first time that vaccine-based immunotherapy directly alters the TME, inducing neogenesis of tertiary lymphoid structures that convert immunologically quiescent tumors into immunologically active tumors. Alterations in five pathways important for immune modulation and lymphoid structure development (TH17/Treg, NFkB, Ubiquitin-proteasome, Chemokines/chemokine receptors, and Integrins/adhesion molecules) in vaccine-induced intratumoral lymphoid aggregates were associated with improved post-vaccination responses. Additional studies in other cancers and patients treated with other forms of immunotherapy are warranted to further develop signatures defined in intratumoral lymphoid structures into biomarkers that predict effective anti-tumor immune responses. These signatures may also expose therapeutic targets for promoting more robust antitumor immune responses in the TME. Between July 2008 and September 2012, 59 patients were enrolled into an ongoing study of an irradiated, allogeneic GM-CSF-secreting pancreatic tumor vaccine (GVAX) administered intradermally either alone or in combination with immune modulatory doses of cyclophophamide (Cy) as neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment for patients with resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Patients were randomized 1:1:1 to 3 treatment arms. In Arm A, patients received GVAX alone; in Arm B, patients received GVAX plus a single intravenous dose of Cy at 200 mg/m2 1 day prior to each vaccination; in Arm C, patients received GVAX plus oral Cy at 100 mg once daily for 1 week on and 1 week off. Up to 6 GVAX treatments were administered and all of the patients remained in their initial treatment arms throughout the duration of the study. All 59 of the patients received the 1st GVAX treatment 2 weeks +/-4 days prior to surgery. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks of surgically resected PDAC were obtained from the pathology archive. FFPE tissue blocks from each subject were stained by H&E immediately before the vaccine therapy-induced lymphoid aggregates were microdissected . To better understand the functional status of these vaccine therapy induced lymphoid aggregate structures, gene microarray analysis on RNA isolated from microdissected lymphoid aggregates was performed. Gene expression was compared among samples grouped according to patient overall survival, post-vaccination induction of enhanced mesothelin-specific T cell responses in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL), and the intratumoral CD8+ T effector to FoxP3+ Treg ratio. Post-vaccination induction of enhanced mesothelin-specific T cell responses has been reported to correlate with longer survival in patients treated with Panc GVAX.

Project description:This study aimed to quantify the regulation of transcripts in the hairy skin of the back of adult rats in the condition of loss of sensory and autonomic (sympathetic) innervation (i.e., denervated). Denervated skin has reduced wound healing capacity, reduced proliferation of epidermal progenitor cells, and also expresses factors that regulate ingrowth of sensory and sympathetic axons from neighboring regions of innervated skin. It was expected that this quantification f transcript regulation would offer insight into the general and specific mechanisms that may contribute to these important biological processes. All animals were adult (200-250g) Sprague-Dawley female rats. Three conditions were examined. Groups were naive (n=6), 7-day denervated skin (n=5), and 14-day (n=5) denervated skin. Denervation preparations: Full-thickness incision along long-axis of the body 1cm to right of midline (to avoid injuring skin to be sampled). Incision was centered rostro-caudally on the T13 (thoracic 13) costo-vertebral angle so as to allow access to the T9-L2 (lumbar 2) cutaneous nerves. Skin was reflected to the left and the left T9, T10, L1, and L2 dorsal and lateral cutaneous nerves were isolated, ligated with 7-0 monofilament suture close to their exit from the body wall, and transected. Approximately 5mm of the distal portion of the nerve was resected. The T11 nerves were left unperturbed and were not isolated from the surrounding fascia. This generated two strips of skin that were devoid of sensory and autonomic innervation (those strips served by the T9 and T10 nerves, and by the L1 and L2 nerves). Between these denervated strips of skin was a strip of skin that retained the sensory and autonomic axons supplied by T11 nerves. The denervated zones were identified by mapping the cutaneous trunk muscle (CTM) reflex (see Petruska-JC et al. (2013) Journal of Comparative Neurology; Diamond-J et al., (1992) J Neuroscience), and the border marked with pen and remarked every few days. The samples were taken from the rostral (T9/10) denervated zone. Samples from naive animals (no denervation) were taken from the same region, using the dorsal cutaneous nerves as registration landmarks. Animals displayed no signs of overgrooming of the denervated skin. Because the CTM inserts onto the dermis of this region of skin, samples necessarily include both skin and underlying CTM (which is innervated from another source so was not denervated in the experiment).

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Sensory nerves in melanoma impede the formation of tertiary lymphoid structures and anti-tumor immune responses

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