Project description:The infiltration of effector CD8+ T cells into tumors is one of the major predictors of clinical outcome for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients. Immune cell infiltration is a complex process that could be affected by the epigenetic makeup of the tumor. Here, we demonstrate that a lysine 4 histone H3 (H3K4) demethylase KDM5A impairs immune cell infiltration and inhibits anti-tumor immune response. Mechanistically, KDM5A silences genes involved in antigen processing and presentation pathway. Antigen processing and presentation is a critical step that is required for CD8+ T cells infiltration and activation of CD8+ T cell mediated anti-tumor immune response. KDM5A inhibition restores the expression of antigen presentation pathway in vitro and promotes anti-tumor immune response mediated by CD8+ T cells in vivo in a syngeneic EOC mouse model. Notably, a negative correlation between expression of KDM5A and genes involved in antigen processing and presentation pathway such as HLA-A and HLA-B is observed in the majority of cancer types. In summary, our results establish KDM5A as a regulator of CD8+ T cells tumor infiltration and demonstrate that KDM5A inhibition is a novel therapeutic strategy aiming to boost anti-tumor immune response.
Project description:The infiltration of effector CD8+ T cells into tumors is one of the major predictors of clinical outcome for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients. Immune cell infiltration is a complex process that could be affected by the epigenetic makeup of the tumor. Here, we demonstrate that a lysine 4 histone H3 (H3K4) demethylase KDM5A impairs immune cell infiltration and inhibits anti-tumor immune response. Mechanistically, KDM5A silences genes involved in antigen processing and presentation pathway. Antigen processing and presentation is a critical step that is required for CD8+ T cells infiltration and activation of CD8+ T cell mediated anti-tumor immune response. KDM5A inhibition restores the expression of antigen presentation pathway in vitro and promotes anti-tumor immune response mediated by CD8+ T cells in vivo in a syngeneic EOC mouse model. Notably, a negative correlation between expression of KDM5A and genes involved in antigen processing and presentation pathway such as HLA-A and HLA-B is observed in the majority of cancer types. In summary, our results establish KDM5A as a regulator of CD8+ T cells tumor infiltration and demonstrate that KDM5A inhibition is a novel therapeutic strategy aiming to boost anti-tumor immune response.
Project description:The extent to which effector CD8+ T cells infiltrate into tumors is one of the major predictors of clinical outcome for patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Immune cell infiltration into EOC is a complex process that could be affected by the epigenetic makeup of the tumor. Here, we have demonstrated that a lysine 4 histone H3 (H3K4) demethylase, (lysine-specific demethylase 5A; KDM5A) impairs EOC infiltration by immune cells and inhibits antitumor immune responses. Mechanistically, we found that KDM5A silenced genes involved in the antigen processing and presentation pathway. KDM5A inhibition restored the expression of genes involved in the antigen-presentation pathway in vitro and promoted antitumor immune responses mediated by CD8+ T cells in vivo in a syngeneic EOC mouse model. A negative correlation between expression of KDM5A and genes involved in the antigen processing and presentation pathway such as HLA-A and HLA-B was observed in the majority of cancer types. In summary, our results establish KDM5A as a regulator of CD8+ T-cell infiltration of tumors and demonstrate that KDM5A inhibition may provide a novel therapeutic strategy to boost antitumor immune responses.
Project description:Loss of antigen presentation by MHCI is a common mechanism of tumor immune evasion. Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) capacity influences MHCI expression, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the relative flow of electrons through complex I or II of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) regulates MHCI expression and antigen presentation in cancer cells. Specifically, reducing electron flow from complex II increases mitochondrial succinate which activates transcription of MHCI and antigen processing and presentation (APP) genes. These phenotypes are independent of the interferon (IFN) signaling pathway and driven by succinate-mediated enzymatic inhibition of lysine-specific demethylases, KDM5A/B and destabilization of polycomb repressor complex 2 (PRC2). Finally, knockout of the mitochondrial Complex I inhibitor protein, MCJ, preferentially reduces electron flow through Complex II and increases succinate which drives an enhanced antigen-dependent CD8+ T cell response to mouse melanoma tumors in vivo. These findings suggest that the mitochondrial ETC can be manipulated therapeutically to enhance antitumor immune responses independently of IFNγ.
Project description:Tumor mutational burden (TMB), usually representing high immunogenicity, could not always predict treatment response of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Here, we showed that defective antigen cross-presentation in type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1) was responsible for lacking tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients. Mechanistically, tumor cytosolic CDC37, shuttled via extracellular vesicles (EVs) into the endosomes of intratumor DCs, inhibited antigen cross-presentation by locking antigen binding to HSP90 and precluding their translocation from endosomes to cytoplasm. CDC37 knockdown in tumor cells or inhibiting CDC37/HSP90 interaction in DCs efficiently promoted antigen translocation and enhanced their cross-presentation, which improved ICB therapeutic responses. Clinically, high tumor CDC37 expression was associated with low infiltration of antigen-specific CTLs and poor ICB efficacy in TNBC patients. Therefore, tumor EV-shuttled CDC37 locks antigen/chaperone interaction and impairs antigen cross-presentation in DCs. Moreover, targeting CDC37 is promising to enhance anti-tumor immunity and reverse ICB resistance.