Similar Datasets
Project description:Epigenetic therapies that alter DNA- and/or histone modifications facilitate transcription of immunogenic repetitive elements that cull cancer cells through ‘viral mimicry’ responses. Paradoxically, cancer-initiating events that include functional inactivation of canonical tumor suppressor proteins also facilitate transcription of repetitive elements. Contributions of repetitive element transcription towards cancer initiation, and the mechanisms by which cancer cells evade lethal viral mimicry responses during tumor initiation remain poorly understood. In this report, we characterize patient-derived premalignant lesions of the fallopian tube along with syngeneic mouse models of epithelial ovarian cancer to explore the earliest events of tumorigenesis following loss of the p53 tumor suppressor protein. We report that p53 loss disrupts constitutive heterochromatin to permit transcription of immunogenic repetitive elements capable of activating viral mimicry responses. While acute viral mimicry activation diminishes cell fitness, chronic viral mimicry activation following p53 loss promotes epigenetic reprogramming that increases tolerance of cytosolic nucleic acids and diminishes cellular immunogenicity as a pro-survival adaptation. This selection process we describe as ‘viral mimicry conditioning’ can be partially attenuated by the reverse transcriptase inhibitor 3TC to delay spontaneous tumorigenesis. Altogether, these results reveal that viral mimicry conditioning following p53 loss selects for diminished cell immunogenicity to promote immune evasion upon cancer initiation. Disruption of viral mimicry conditioning during cancer initiation may represent a pharmacological target for early cancer interception.
2024-03-26 | GSE216639 | GEO
Project description:Chronic viral mimicry induction following p53 loss promotes immune evasion
| PRJNA896220 | ENA
Project description:Chronic viral mimicry induction following p53 loss promotes immune evasion [Mouse RNASeq]
| PRJNA896208 | ENA
Project description: Not available
| S-BSST1237 | biostudies-other
Project description:Detection of viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is an important component of innate immunity. However, many endogenous RNAs containing double-stranded regions can be misrecognized and activate innate immunity. The interferon inducible ADAR1-p150 suppresses dsRNA sensing, an essential function for ADAR1 in many cancers, including breast. Although ADAR1-p150 has been well established in this role, the functions of the constitutively expressed ADAR1-p110 isoform are less understood. We used proximity labeling to identify putative ADAR1-p110 interacting proteins in breast cancer cell lines. Of the proteins identified, the RNA helicase DHX9 was of particular interest. Knockdown of DHX9 in ADAR1-dependent cell lines caused cell death and activation of the dsRNA sensor PKR. In ADAR1-independent cell lines, combined knockdown of DHX9 and ADAR1, but neither alone, caused activation of multiple dsRNA sensing pathways leading to a viral mimicry phenotype. Together, these results reveal an important role for DHX9 in suppressing dsRNA sensing by multiple pathways.
| S-EPMC10002699 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Detection of viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is an important component of innate immunity. However, many endogenous RNAs containing double-stranded regions can be misrecognized and activate innate immunity. The IFN-inducible ADAR1-p150 suppresses dsRNA sensing, an essential function for adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 1 (ADAR1) in many cancers, including breast. Although ADAR1-p150 has been well established in this role, the functions of the constitutively expressed ADAR1-p110 isoform are less understood. We used proximity labeling to identify putative ADAR1-p110-interacting proteins in breast cancer cell lines. Of the proteins identified, the RNA helicase DHX9 was of particular interest. Knockdown of DHX9 in ADAR1-dependent cell lines caused cell death and activation of the dsRNA sensor PKR. In ADAR1-independent cell lines, combined knockdown of DHX9 and ADAR1, but neither alone, caused activation of multiple dsRNA sensing pathways leading to a viral mimicry phenotype. Together, these results reveal an important role for DHX9 in suppressing dsRNA sensing by multiple pathways.SignificanceThese findings implicate DHX9 as a suppressor of dsRNA sensing. In some cell lines, loss of DHX9 alone is sufficient to cause activation of dsRNA sensing pathways, while in other cell lines DHX9 functions redundantly with ADAR1 to suppress pathway activation.
| S-EPMC10993856 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Sensing of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is an important component of innate immunity. Proteins like PKR and MDA5 recognize dsRNA and activate various pathways to fight viral infection. In addition to viral dsRNA, many endogenous RNAs containing double-stranded regions can be misrecognized as immunogenic. The RNA editing enzyme ADAR1, specifically its p150 isoform, has been shown to suppress activation of PKR and MDA5 through its A-to-I editing activity. While the cytoplasmic ADAR1-p150 isoform has been well established within this role, the functions of the nuclear ADAR1-p110 isoform are less understood. To address this knowledge gap, we utilized proximity labeling by APEX2 to identify putative ADAR1-p110 interacting proteins. We identified 110 proteins across three breast cancer cell lines that either interact with p110 or are within close proximity. Many of these proteins have known roles in RNA metabolism. Nine of the identified proteins belong to the DEAD or DEAH box families of RNA helicases, including DHX9. DHX9 is overexpressed in breast cancer, with expression closely correlated with that of p110. By co-immunoprecipitation we confirmed that p110 interacts with DHX9. Knockdown of DHX9 in several triple-negative breast cancer cell lines caused cell death and activation of the dsRNA sensor PKR. In two cell lines that are refractory to knockdown of ADAR1, the combined knockdown of DHX9 and ADAR1 caused a substantial increase in PKR activity, where knockdown of either alone had no effect. Knockdown of DHX9 and ADAR1 caused activation of the type I IFN pathway, RNase L and NF-KB signaling. Activation of these proteins and pathways was not seen with individual knockdown of ADAR1 or DHX9. Activation of PKR following combined knockdown of ADAR1 and DHX9 could be rescued by expression of p110, p150, DHX9, and catalytically inactive DHX9. Additionally PKR activation could be rescued by the dsRBM of DHX9, revealing an important role for dsRBMs in suppressing PKR activation. Together these results reveal an important role for DHX9 in suppressing dsRNA sensing by multiple pathways.
2023-08-07 | GSE224677 | GEO
Project description:The cell wall provides a major physical interface between fungal pathogens and their mammalian host. This extracellular armor is critical for fungal cell homeostasis and survival. Fungus-specific cell wall moieties, such as β-1,3-glucan, are recognized as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) that activate immune-mediated clearance mechanisms. We have reported that the opportunistic human fungal pathogen Candida albicans masks β-1,3-glucan following exposure to lactate, hypoxia, or iron depletion. However, the precise mechanism(s) by which C. albicans masks β-1,3-glucan has remained obscure. Here, we identify a secreted exoglucanase, Xog1, that is induced in response to lactate or hypoxia. Xog1 functions downstream of the lactate-induced β-glucan "masking" pathway to promote β-1,3-glucan "shaving." Inactivation of XOG1 blocks most but not all β-1,3-glucan masking in response to lactate, suggesting that other activities contribute to this phenomenon. Nevertheless, XOG1 deletion attenuates the lactate-induced reductions in phagocytosis and cytokine stimulation normally observed for wild-type cells. We also demonstrate that the pharmacological inhibition of exoglucanases undermines β-glucan shaving, enhances the immune visibility of the fungus, and attenuates its virulence. Our study establishes a new mechanism underlying environmentally induced PAMP remodeling that can be manipulated pharmacologically to influence immune recognition and infection outcomes.IMPORTANCE The immune system plays a critical role in protecting us against potentially fatal fungal infections. However, some fungal pathogens have evolved evasion strategies that reduce the efficacy of our immune defenses. Previously, we reported that the fungal pathogen Candida albicans exploits specific host-derived signals (such as lactate and hypoxia) to trigger an immune evasion strategy that involves reducing the exposure of β-glucan at its cell surface. Here, we show that this phenomenon is mediated by the induction of a major secreted exoglucanase (Xog1) by the fungus in response to these host signals. Inactivating XOG1-mediated "shaving" of cell surface-exposed β-glucan enhances immune responses against the fungus. Furthermore, inhibiting exoglucanase activity pharmacologically attenuates C. albicans virulence. In addition to revealing the mechanism underlying a key immune evasion strategy in a major fungal pathogen of humans, our work highlights the potential therapeutic value of drugs that block fungal immune evasion.
| S-EPMC7343991 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Mitotic cell division increases tumour mutation burden and copy number load, predictive markers of the clinical benefit of immunotherapy. Cell division correlates also with genomic demethylation involving methylation loss in late-replicating partial methylation domains. Here we find that immunomodulatory pathway genes are concentrated in these domains and transcriptionally repressed in demethylated tumours with CpG island promoter hypermethylation. Global methylation loss correlated with immune evasion signatures independently of mutation burden and aneuploidy. Methylome data of our cohort (n = 60) and a published cohort (n = 81) in lung cancer and a melanoma cohort (n = 40) consistently demonstrated that genomic methylation alterations counteract the contribution of high mutation burden and increase immunotherapeutic resistance. Higher predictive power was observed for methylation loss than mutation burden. We also found that genomic hypomethylation correlates with the immune escape signatures of aneuploid tumours. Hence, DNA methylation alterations implicate epigenetic modulation in precision immunotherapy.
| S-EPMC6753140 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Abortive infection, during which an infected bacterial cell commits altruistic suicide to destroy the replicating bacteriophage and protect the clonal population, can be mediated by toxin-antitoxin systems such as the Type III protein-RNA toxin-antitoxin system, ToxIN. A flagellum-dependent bacteriophage of the Myoviridae, ?TE, evolved rare mutants that "escaped" ToxIN-mediated abortive infection within Pectobacterium atrosepticum. Wild-type ?TE encoded a short sequence similar to the repetitive nucleotide sequence of the RNA antitoxin, ToxI, from ToxIN. The ?TE escape mutants had expanded the number of these "pseudo-ToxI" genetic repeats and, in one case, an escape phage had "hijacked" ToxI from the plasmid-borne toxIN locus, through recombination. Expression of the pseudo-ToxI repeats during ?TE infection allowed the phage to replicate, unaffected by ToxIN, through RNA-based molecular mimicry. This is the first example of a non-coding RNA encoded by a phage that evolves by selective expansion and recombination to enable viral suppression of a defensive bacterial suicide system. Furthermore, the ?TE escape phages had evolved enhanced capacity to transduce replicons expressing ToxIN, demonstrating virus-mediated horizontal transfer of genetic altruism.
| S-EPMC3475682 | biostudies-literature