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STING signalling compensates for low tumour mutation burden to drive anti-tumour immunity

ABSTRACT: While mutation-derived neoantigens are well recognized in generating anti-tumor T cell responses, increasing evidences highlight the complex association between tumor mutation burden (TMB) and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). We examined this relationship across nine major cancer types to identify non-TMB determinants of immune responses within the tumor microenvironment. TMB overall correlated poorly with both TILs and exhausted CD8+ T cells (Tex) as an indicator of tumor-specific T cells. Computational clustering analysis performed on 4,510 tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas revealed a group of tumors with abundant Tex but low TMB. In those tumors, we observed significantly higher expression of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling. Dendritic cells, particularly those of BATF3+ lineage, were also found to be essential for accumulation of Tex within tumors. Mechanistically, loss of genomic and cellular integrity, marked by decreased DNA damage repair, defective replication stress response, and increased apoptosis were shown to drive STING activation. These results highlight that TMB alone does not fully predict tumor immune profiles, with STING signaling compensating for low TMB in non-hypermutated tumors to enhance anti-tumor immunity. We further validated these findings using clinical samples via NanoString technology and single cell RNA-seq. Translating these results, STING agonists may benefit patients with non-hypermutated tumors. STING activation may serve as an additional biomarker to predict response to immune checkpoint blockades alongside TMB. Our research also unraveled the interplay between genomic instability and STING activation, informing potential combined chemotherapy targeting the axis of genomic integrity and immunotherapy.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE255107 | GEO | 2024/02/10

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Autophagy degrades and recycles intracellular components to sustain metabolism and survival during starvation. Tumor cells upregulate and require autophagy to support their metabolism and enhance their proliferation and malignancy, and host autophagy also promotes tumor growth by providing essential tumor nutrients such as arginine in the circulation or alanine in the local tumor microenvironment. In addition to its metabolic role, autophagy regulates immune cell homeostasis and function, and suppresses inflammation, which may also play a role in cancer. Although host autophagy does not promote a T cell anti-tumor immune response in tumors with low tumor mutational burden (TMB), whether this was the case in tumors with high TMB was not known. Here we show that in contrast to low TMB tumors, host-specific deletion of the essential autophagy gene Atg7 induces a pro-inflammatory cytokine response and limits the growth of high TMB tumors, which is rescued by T-cell depletion. Expression of immune-related genes is increased in tumors from Atg7Δ/Δ hosts in a T-cell dependent manner. Tumors from Atg7Δ/Δ hosts also have decreased T regulatory cells (Tregs), and depletion of Tregs phenocopies the reduced tumor growth observed in Atg7Δ/Δ hosts. Moreover, loss of Stimulator of interferon genes (Sting) or IFNg restores growth of high TMB tumors on Atg7Δ/Δ hosts. Finally, similar to whole-body loss of autophagy, specific loss of autophagy in the liver is sufficient to limit tumor growth. Thus, autophagy, especially in the liver, promotes tumor immune tolerance by limiting STING, T cells, and IFNg, which enables tumor growth. We have designated this: Hepatic Autophagy Immune Tolerance (HAIT). Autophagy thereby promotes tumor growth through both metabolic and immune mechanisms depending on mutational load, and autophagy inhibition is an effective means to promote an anti-tumor T-cell response in high TMB tumors. Genomic DNA Profiling using Agilent SureSelect Mouse All Exon kit and sequencing using Illumina NextSeq550

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STING signalling compensates for low tumour mutation burden to drive anti-tumour immunity

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