Project description:Checkpoint blockade immunotherapy has failed in pancreatic cancer and other poorly responsive tumor types in part due to inadequate T cell priming. Naïve T cells can receive co-stimulation not only via CD28 but also through TNF superfamily receptors that signal via NF-κB. Antagonists of the ubiquitin ligases cIAP1/2, also called SMAC mimetics, induce degradation of cIAP1/2 proteins, allowing for the accumulation of NIK and constitutive, ligand-independent activation of alternate NF-κB signaling that mimics co-stimulation in T cells. In tumor cells, cIAP1/2 antagonists can increase TNF production and TNF-mediated apoptosis; however, pancreatic cancer cells are resistant to cytokine-mediated apoptosis, even in the presence of cIAP1/2 antagonism. Here, we confirm our previous findings that even poorly immunogenic tumors with a paucity of T cells can experience T cell-dependent anti-tumor immunity, and we provide transcriptional clues into how these rare T cells coordinate downstream immune responses.
Project description:Induction of non-canonical NF-kB signaling with IAP antagonists mimics costimulatory signaling, augmenting anti-tumor immunity. We now show that induction of non-canonical NF-kB signaling induces T-cell dependent immune responses even in B2M-null tumors, demonstrating that direct CD8 T cell recognition of tumor cell expressed MHC class I is not required. Instead, T cell-produced cytokines reprogram macrophages to be tumoricidal. In wildtype mice IAP antagonism reduces tumor burden by increasing phagocytosis of tumor cells. We characterized by RNA-Seq the transcriptional profile of intratumoral phagocytes with and without treatment with the IAP antagonist LCL161.
Project description:Induction of non-canonical NF-kB signaling with IAP antagonists mimics costimulatory signaling, augmenting anti-tumor immunity. We show that induction of non-canonical NF-kB signaling induces T-cell dependent immune responses even in B2M-null tumors, demonstrating that direct CD8 T cell recognition of tumor cell expressed MHC class I is not required. Instead, T cell-produced cytokines reprogram macrophages to be tumoricidal. In wildtype mice, IAP antagonism reduces tumor burden by increasing phagocytosis of tumor cells. We characterized by RNA-Seq the transcriptional response of macrophages to T-cell produced lymphotoxin (LT) in the presence or absence of the IAP antagonist LCL161.
Project description:Induction of non-canonical NF-kB signaling with IAP antagonists mimics costimulatory signaling, augmenting anti-tumor immunity. We show that induction of non-canonical NF-kB signaling induces T-cell dependent immune responses even in B2M-null tumors, demonstrating that direct CD8 T cell recognition of tumor cell expressed MHC class I is not required. Instead, T cell-produced cytokines reprogram macrophages to be tumoricidal. We characterized by single-cell RNA-Seq the transcriptional profile of immune cells infilitrating mouse pancreatic tumors treated with the IAP anatagonist LCL161.