Lung cancer-intrinsic SOX2 expression mediates resistance to checkpoint blockade therapy by inducing Treg cell-dependent CD8+ T cell exclusion
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE256071 | GEO | 2024/12/19
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:PD-1 blockade therapy exerts antitumor effects by restoring the infiltration of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. While neoantigens arising from gene alterations in cancer cells comprise critical tumor antigens in antitumor immunity, a subset of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) harboring substantial tumor mutation burden (TMB) lack CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME), resulting in resistance to PD-1 blockade therapy. This resistance is an urgent issue, so the mechanism(s) mediating impaired antitumor immunity in highly mutated NSCLCs need to be explored. Here, we show that activation of the WNT/b-catenin signaling pathway contributes to the development of a noninflamed TME in tumors with high TMB. NSCLCs that lack immune cell infiltration into the TME despite high TMB preferentially upregulate the WNT/b-catenin pathway. Immunological assays revealed that those patients harbored neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood but not in the TME, suggesting impaired T cell infiltration into the TME due to the activation of WNT/b-catenin signaling. In our animal model, the accumulation of gene mutations in cancer cells increased CD8+ T cell infiltration into the TME, slowing tumor growth. However, further accumulation of gene mutations blunted antitumor immunity by excluding CD8+ T cells from tumors in a WNT/b-catenin signaling-dependent manner. Combined treatment with PD-1 blockade and WNT/b-catenin signaling inhibitors induced far stronger antitumor immunity than either treatment alone. We propose a mechanism-oriented combination therapy concept in the cancer immunotherapy field, i.e., the combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors with drugs that target specific molecules in cancer cell-intrinsic oncogenic signaling pathways involved in immune escape.
2021-09-17 | GSE181820 | GEO
Project description:Drug resistance is the principal challenge of cancer therapies, including recently developed immunotherapy. More and more popular use of immunotherapy, especially treatments with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), witnesses explosively increasing cases of both primary and acquired immunotherapy resistance. While primary resistance has been extensively studied, mechanisms underlying acquired resistance of immunotherapy are less understood. Here we reported that tumor cells could develop acquired resistance to ICI treatment through self-built collagen-containing physical barriers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We found that tumor cells expressed high levels of multiple collagen genes, including COL3A1 and COL6A1, and were fully covered with collagen fibers. COL3A1 formed a castle-like structure of a cluster of tumor cells and prevented the infiltration of T cells, while COL6A1 seemed to be an armor-like structure of each tumor cell and protected them from attack by cytotoxic T cells. Genetic or pharmaceutic disruption of these collagens, by warfarin, a commonly used medicine, significantly reversed the acquired resistance. Thus, our data reveal an unprecedented tumor cell-intrinsic mechanism, mediated by collagen-containing physical barriers, of acquired immunotherapy resistance, which immediately suggests a treatment option for patients.
2025-02-01 | GSE261898 | GEO
Project description:Drug resistance is the principal challenge of cancer therapies, including recently developed immunotherapy. More and more popular use of immunotherapy, especially treatments with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), witnesses explosively increasing cases of both primary and acquired immunotherapy resistance. While primary resistance has been extensively studied, mechanisms underlying acquired resistance of immunotherapy are less understood. Here we reported that tumor cells could develop acquired resistance to ICI treatment through self-built collagen-containing physical barriers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We found that tumor cells expressed high levels of multiple collagen genes, including COL3A1 and COL6A1, and were fully covered with collagen fibers. COL3A1 formed a castle-like structure of a cluster of tumor cells and prevented the infiltration of T cells, while COL6A1 seemed to be an armor-like structure of each tumor cell and protected them from attack by cytotoxic T cells. Genetic or pharmaceutic disruption of these collagens, by warfarin, a commonly used medicine, significantly reversed the acquired resistance. Thus, our data reveal an unprecedented tumor cell-intrinsic mechanism, mediated by collagen-containing physical barriers, of acquired immunotherapy resistance, which immediately suggests a treatment option for patients.
2025-02-01 | GSE261890 | GEO
Project description:Drug resistance is the principal challenge of cancer therapies, including recently developed immunotherapy. More and more popular use of immunotherapy, especially treatments with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), witnesses explosively increasing cases of both primary and acquired immunotherapy resistance. While primary resistance has been extensively studied, mechanisms underlying acquired resistance of immunotherapy are less understood. Here we reported that tumor cells could develop acquired resistance to ICI treatment through self-built collagen-containing physical barriers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We found that tumor cells expressed high levels of multiple collagen genes, including COL3A1 and COL6A1, and were fully covered with collagen fibers. COL3A1 formed a castle-like structure of a cluster of tumor cells and prevented the infiltration of T cells, while COL6A1 seemed to be an armor-like structure of each tumor cell and protected them from attack by cytotoxic T cells. Genetic or pharmaceutic disruption of these collagens, by warfarin, a commonly used medicine, significantly reversed the acquired resistance. Thus, our data reveal an unprecedented tumor cell-intrinsic mechanism, mediated by collagen-containing physical barriers, of acquired immunotherapy resistance, which immediately suggests a treatment option for patients.
2025-02-01 | GSE261889 | GEO
Project description:The efficacy of immunotherapies in metastatic melanoma depends on a robust T cell infiltration. Consistently, defining cancer cell intrinsic mechanisms mediating T cell exclusion and immune resistance is crucial. The EMT inducing transcription factor ZEB1 is a major regulator of melanoma cell plasticity, driving resistance to MAPK targeted therapies. Here, by analyzing the immune infiltrates of a cohort of melanoma patients, we demonstrate that high ZEB1 expression in tumor cells is associated with a decrease in CD8+ T lymphocyte infiltration, independently of beta-catenin pathway activation. Moreover, gain- or loss-of-function experiments in melanoma mouse models show that ZEB1 regulates tumor growth by controlling CD8+ T cell recruitment, via its negative action on the production of T cell attracting chemokines, and that its targeting improves the efficacy of anti-PD1 immunotherapy. Overall, the major role of ZEB1 in preventing T cell infiltration suggests it may constitute a new target in metastatic melanoma.
2022-03-23 | GSE169203 | GEO
Project description:Epigenetic dysregulation is a defining feature of tumorigenesis and has been implicated in immune escape. However, the epigenetic mechanisms that drive immune evasion in cancer are poorly understood. To systematically identify epigenetic factors that modulate the immune sensitivity of tumor cells, we performed in vivo loss of function screens targeting 936 chromatin regulators in mouse tumor models treated with immune checkpoint blockade. We identified the H3K9-methyltransferase SETDB1 and other members of the HUSH and KAP1 complexes as cell-intrinsic mediators of immune escape in tumor cells. We also found that amplification of SETDB1 (1q21) in human tumors is associated with reduced cytotoxic T-cell infiltration and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that SETDB1 targets broad domains, hundreds of kilobases in size, many of which reside within the open genome compartment. These SETDB1 domains are enriched for transposable elements (TEs) and immune gene clusters associated with segmental duplication events, a central mechanism of mammalian genome evolution. SETDB1 loss derepresses latent TE-encoded regulatory elements and proximal immune genes within these repetitive regions, including canonical NKG2D ligands, and induces hundreds of putative TE-encoded viral antigens. Our study establishes SETDB1 as an epigenetic checkpoint that suppresses intrinsic immunogenicity in cancer cells, and thus represents a candidate target for immunotherapy.
2021-03-18 | GSE155972 | GEO
Project description:Although immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has proven to be extremely effective in managing certain cancers, its efficacy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains limited. Previous studies have indicated that histamine and histamine receptor H1 (HRH1) can suppress immunity by affecting immune cells. This study uncovered an unexplored role of HRH1 intrinsic to tumor cells in PDAC. When HRH1 specific to tumor cells was inhibited in PDAC mouse models, there was a noticeable increase in MHC-I expression in these cells via the activation of cholesterol biosynthesis signaling. This augmented the infiltration and efficacy of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, synergizing anticancer immunity and mitigating resistance to ICB treatment. Our results highlight that HRH1 plays an immunosuppressive role in cancer cells. Consequently, HRH1 intervention may be a promising method to amplify the responsiveness of PDAC to immunotherapy.
2023-12-26 | GSE251639 | GEO
Project description:Despite approval of immunotherapy for a wide range of cancers, the majority of patients fail to respond to immunotherapy or relapse following initial response. These failures may be attributed to immunosuppressive mechanisms co-opted by tumor cells. However, it is challenging to utilize conventional methods to systematically evaluate the potential of tumor intrinsic factors to act as immune regulators in cancer patients. To identify immunosuppressive mechanisms in non-responders to cancer immunotherapy in an unbiased manner, we performed genome-wide CRISPR immune screens and integrated our results with multi-omics clinical data to evaluate the role of tumor intrinsic factors in regulating two rate-limiting steps of cancer immunotherapy, namely T cell tumor infiltration and T cell-mediated tumor killing.Our studies revealed two distinct types of immune resistance regulators and demonstrated their potential as therapeutic targets to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy. Among them, PRMT1 and RIPK1 were identified as a dual immune resistance regulator and a cytotoxicity resistance regulator, respectively. Although the magnitude varied between different types of immunotherapy, genetically targeting PRMT1 and RIPK1 sensitized tumors to T-cell killing and anti-PD-1/OX40 treatment. Interestingly, a RIPK1-specific inhibitor enhanced the antitumor activity of T cell-based and anti-OX40 therapy, despite limited impact on T cell tumor infiltration. Collectively, the data provides a rich resource of novel targets for rational immuno-oncology combinations.
2021-02-24 | GSE161496 | GEO
Project description:The recently described role of RNA methylation in regulating immune cell infiltration into tumors has attracted interest, given its potential impact on immunotherapy response. YTHDF1 is a versatile and powerful m6A reader, but the understanding of its impact on immune evasion is limited. Here, we revealed that tumor-intrinsic Ythdf1 drives immune evasion and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) resistance. TMT proteomics analysis was performed to identify the altered protein.
2022-12-06 | PXD036938 | Pride
Project description:Griffin GK, Wu J, Iracheta-Vellve A, Patti JC, Hsu J, Davis T, Dele-Oni D, Du PP, Halawi A, Ishizuka JJ, Kim S, Klaeger S, Knudsen NH, Miller BC, Nguyen T, Olander K, Papanastasiou M, Rachimi S, Robitschek EJ, Schneider EM, Yeary M, Zimmer M, Jaffe JD, Carr SA, Doench JG, Haining WN, Yates KB, Manguso RT, Bernstein BE. 2020. Epigenetic dysregulation is a defining feature of tumorigenesis and has been implicated in immune escape, yet mechanisms that drive immune evasion are poorly understood. To systematically identify epigenetic factors that modulate the immune sensitivity of tumor cells, we performed in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 screens targeting 936 chromatin regulators in mouse tumor models treated with immune checkpoint blockade. We identified the H3K9-methyltransferase SETDB1 and other members of the HUSH and KAP1 complexes as cell-intrinsic mediators of immune escape in tumor cells. We also found that amplification of SETDB1 (1q21) in human tumors is associated with reduced cytotoxic T-cell infiltration and resistance to immune checkpoint blockade. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that SETDB1 represses broad domains, hundreds of kilobases in size, many of which reside within the open genome compartment. These SETDB1 domains are enriched for transposable elements (TEs) and immune gene clusters associated with segmental duplication events, a central mechanism of mammalian genome evolution. SETDB1 loss derepresses latent TE-encoded regulatory elements and proximal immune genes within these repetitive regions, including canonical co-stimulatory ligands, and induces hundreds of putative TE-encoded viral antigens. Our study establishes SETDB1 as an epigenetic checkpoint that suppresses intrinsic immunogenicity in cancer cells, and thus represents a candidate target for immunotherapy.
2020-12-11 | MSV000086580 | MassIVE