Project description:To inhibitors for ADAR1 and a strong rationale for the development of ADAR1 p150 inhibitors for cancer immunotherapy Here, we describe AVA-ADR-001, a potential first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of ADAR1 p150 targeting the Z alpha domain. AVA-ADR-001 binds specifically to the Z alpha domain of ADAR1 p150 as confirmed by fluorescence spectroscopy and showed significant interferon induction in THP1 macrophages, which have high ADAR1 p150 expression compared with monocytes. Proteomics and transcriptomics analysis revealed significant upregulation of interferon signaling upon treatment with AVA-ADR -001. Interestingly, activation of interferon signaling resulted in AVA-ADR-001 induced cell killing in ADAR1-independent cell lines. In addition, treatment with AVA-ADR -001 resulted in significant activation of PKR, which may explain the decreased cell proliferation. Finally, AVA-ADR-001 showed superior anti-tumor efficacy compared to anti-PD1 in an in vivo tumor efficacy study and has a moderately synergistic effect when combined. Overall, this study reveals that ADAR1 p150 inhibition by AVA-ADR-001 exerts a multipronged impact on anti-tumor efficacy mediated by immune cells, accumulation of interferons and activation of PKR, resulting in protein translation inhibition and cell proliferation arrest.
Project description:The antiviral defense in vertebrates requires the innate immune system to sense foreign “non-self” nucleic acids while avoiding “self” nucleic acids, which is accomplished by an intricate system. Cellular double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are edited by the RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 to prevent their dsRNA structure pattern from being recognized as viral dsRNA. Lack of RNA editing by ADAR1 enables activation of MDA5, a cytosolic dsRNA sensor, by cellular dsRNA. Additional RNA editing- independent functions of ADAR1 have been proposed, but the specific mechanism remains elusive. Here we demonstrate that RNA binding by ADAR1, independent of its editing activity, restricts the activation of PKR, another cytosolic dsRNA sensor, by cellular dsRNA. Mechanistically, the loss of ADAR1 editing caused MDA5 activation to induce interferon signaling, while a lack of ADAR1 protein or its dsRNA binding ability led to PKR activation, with subsequent stress granule formation and proliferation arrest. Based on these findings we rescued the Adar1−/− mice from embryonic lethality to adulthood by deleting both MDA5 and PKR, in contrast to the limited rescue of Adar1−/− mice by removing MDA5 or PKR alone. Our findings reveal a multifaceted contribution of ADAR1 in regulating the immunogenicity of “self” dsRNAs. Furthermore, ADAR1 is an immuno-oncology target for drug development, and the separation of ADAR1’s RNA editing and binding functions provides mechanistic insights for such developments.
Project description:THIO (6-thio-dG) is a nucleoside analog that induces telomeric DNA damage and triggers activation of anti-tumor immunity in several cancer types such as lung and colorectal cancers. To evaluate its effect in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), THIO in combination with the current standard care first-line therapy for advanced HCC, anti-PD-L1 and anti-analyze, was tested in immunocompetent mice subcutaneously implanted with syngeneic HCC cell line (Hep55.1c). Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissues were collected after the treatment, and therapeutic modulations of the tumor immune landscape were assessed with Digital Spatial Profiling of 38 immuno-oncology-related proteins in region of interest (ROI) and intra-ROI segments enriched for T cells, other leukocytes, and HCC/stromal cells.
Project description:Chemoresistance in breast cancer has been a great interest in past studies, however, the development of rational therapeutic strategies targeting chemoresistant cells is still a challenge for clinical oncology.The resistant property of MCF7/ADR cells was confirmed by long term culture with Dox, cell viability, and PARP cleavage assays. Microarray analysis was performed to compare the global differences of gene expression between MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR cells. MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR gene expression profiles were analyzed. Total RNA were prepared for analysis with Affymetrix Human U133 Plus 2.0 arrays according to the manufacturerâs instructions.
Project description:Aberrant RNA-editing was observed in several human tumors, but its significance is mostly unknown. Here we show that ADAR1, a ubiquitous RNA-editing enzyme, is commonly lost in metastatic melanoma cells and specimens. Experimental ADAR1 silencing significantly alters melanoma cell morphology, facilitates proliferation and cell-cycle, and increases the tumorigenicity in-vivo. A series of ADAR1 truncation mutants establishes a novel RNA-editing-independent role for ADAR1 in controlling the nuclear and cytoplasmic processing steps of miRNA biogenesis. Altered expression of ADAR1-controled miRNAs accounts for the observed phenotype. We show that the oncogenic miR-17-5p endogenously regulates ADAR1 expression and that its genomic sequence is frequently amplified in melanoma to overexpress the mature miR-17-5p form. ADAR1 and miR-17-5p are ubiquitously expressed, suggesting the generality of this mechanism. Melanoma cell line expressing low ADAR1 levels (ADAR1-Knockdown) using shRNA technique were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We sought to examine the alterations in the genes and microRNA expression profile in the manipulated cell system, due to ADAR1 possible involvement cancer development. To that end, we selected ADAR1-knockdown (ADAR1-KD) cells that demonstrated an enhanced aggressive phenotype both in vivo and in vitro as compared to the control cells (Control).
Project description:RNAseq analysis of cell lines with ADAR1-p150 and ADAR1-p110 knock-outs and primary human tissue samples (from GSE57353 and GSE99392 data sets) to identify sites of ADAR1 editing
Project description:Adenosine deaminases acting on RNA (Adar1 and Adar2) catalyze I-to-A RNA editing, a post-transcriptional mechanism involved in multiple cellular functions. The role of Adar1-dependent RNA editing in cardiomyocytes (CMs) remains unclear. Here we show that conditional deletion of Adar1 in CMs results in myocarditis progressively evolving into dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure at only 6 months of age. Adar1 depletion drives activation of interferon signaling genes (ISGs) in the absence of apoptosis and cytokine activation, and reduces the hypertrophic response of CMs upon pressure overload. Interestingly, ablation of the cytosolic sensor MDA5 prevents cardiac ISG activation and delays disease onset, but does not rescue the long-term lethal phenotype elicited by conditional deletion of Adar1. Retention of a single catalytically inactive Adar1 allele in CMs, in combination with MDA5 depletion, however, completely restores the cardiac function and prevents heart failure. Finally, ablation of interferon regulatory factor 7 (Irf7) attenuates the phenotype of Adar1-deficient CMs to a similar extent as MDA5 depletion, highlighting Irf7 as the main regulator of the immune response triggered by lack of Adar1 in CMs.
Project description:Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and organoids (PDO) have been shown to model clinical response to cancer therapy. However, it remains challenging to use these models to guide timely clinical decisions for cancer patients. Here we used droplet emulsion microfluidics with temperature control and dead-volume minimization to rapidly generate thousands of Micro- Organospheres (MOS) from low-volume patient tissues, which serve as an ideal patient-derived model for clinical precision oncology. A clinical study of newly diagnosed metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients using a MOS-based precision oncology pipeline reliably predicted patient treatment outcome within 14 days, a timeline suitable for guiding treatment decisions in clinic. Furthermore, MOS capture original stromal cells and allow T cell penetration, providing a clinical assay for testing immuno-oncology (IO) therapies such as PD-1 blockade, bispecific antibodies, and T cell therapies on patient tumors.