scholarly journals Targeting Versican as a Potential Immunotherapeutic Strategy in the Treatment of Cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priyanka Hirani ◽  
Valentine Gauthier ◽  
Carys E. Allen ◽  
Thomas N. Wight ◽  
Oliver M. T. Pearce

A growing body of literature links events associated with the progression and severity of immunity and inflammatory disease with the composition of the tissue extracellular matrix as defined by the matrisome. One protein in the matrisome that is common to many inflammatory diseases is the large proteoglycan versican, whose varied function is achieved through multiple isoforms and post-translational modifications of glycosaminoglycan structures. In cancer, increased levels of versican are associated with immune cell phenotype, disease prognosis and failure to respond to treatment. Whether these associations between versican expression and tumour immunity are the result of a direct role in the pathogenesis of tumours is not clear. In this review, we have focused on the role of versican in the immune response as it relates to tumour progression, with the aim of determining whether our current understanding of the immunobiology of versican warrants further study as a cancer immunotherapy target.

Metabolites ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl J. Harber ◽  
Kyra E. de Goede ◽  
Sanne G. S. Verberk ◽  
Elisa Meinster ◽  
Helga E. de Vries ◽  
...  

Immunometabolism revealed the crucial role of cellular metabolism in controlling immune cell phenotype and functions. Macrophages, key immune cells that support progression of numerous inflammatory diseases, have been well described as undergoing vast metabolic rewiring upon activation. The immunometabolite succinate particularly gained a lot of attention and emerged as a crucial regulator of macrophage responses and inflammation. Succinate was originally described as a metabolite that supports inflammation via distinct routes. Recently, studies have indicated that succinate and its receptor SUCNR1 can suppress immune responses as well. These apparent contradictory effects might be due to specific experimental settings and particularly the use of distinct succinate forms. We therefore compared the phenotypic and functional effects of distinct succinate forms and receptor mouse models that were previously used for studying succinate immunomodulation. Here, we show that succinate can suppress secretion of inflammatory mediators IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and nitric oxide (NO), as well as inhibit Il1b mRNA expression of inflammatory macrophages in a SUCNR1-independent manner. We also observed that macrophage SUCNR1 deficiency led to an enhanced inflammatory response without addition of exogenous succinate. While our study does not reveal new mechanistic insights into how succinate elicits different inflammatory responses, it does indicate that the inflammatory effects of succinate and its receptor SUCNR1 in macrophages are clearly context dependent.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Egan ◽  
Oliver Treacy ◽  
Kevin Lynch ◽  
Niamh A Leonard ◽  
Grace O'Malley ◽  
...  

Immunosuppressive tumour microenvironments (TME) reduce the effectiveness of immune responses in cancer. Non-haematopoietic mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), the precursor to cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), dictate tumour progression by enhancing immune cell suppression. Hyper-sialylation of glycans promotes immune evasion in cancer, but the role of sialyation in stromal cell-mediated immunosuppression is unknown. Here we study changes in sialyltransferase (ST) enzymes and associated surface expressed sialic acid in stromal cells following inflammatory and tumour secretome conditioning. We show that tumour conditioned stromal cells have increased levels of sialyltransferases, α2,3/6 linked sialic acid and siglec ligands. In tumour models of solid (colorectal cancer) and haematological (multiple myeloma) stromal rich tumours, stromal cell sialylation is associated with enhanced immunosuppression. Using datasets and patient samples, we confirm that targeting sialylation in tumour stromal cells reverses immune cell exhaustion. Targeting stromal cell sialylation may represent a novel immune checkpoint to reactivate anti-tumour immunity.


Open Biology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 170006 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Calì ◽  
B. Molon ◽  
A. Viola

Host immunity plays a central and complex role in dictating tumour progression. Solid tumours are commonly infiltrated by a large number of immune cells that dynamically interact with the surrounding microenvironment. At first, innate and adaptive immune cells successfully cooperate to eradicate microcolonies of transformed cells. Concomitantly, surviving tumour clones start to proliferate and harness immune responses by specifically hijacking anti-tumour effector mechanisms and fostering the accumulation of immunosuppressive immune cell subsets at the tumour site. This pliable interplay between immune and malignant cells is a relentless process that has been concisely organized in three different phases: elimination, equilibrium and escape. In this review, we aim to depict the distinct immune cell subsets and immune-mediated responses characterizing the tumour landscape throughout the three interconnected phases. Importantly, the identification of key immune players and molecules involved in the dynamic crosstalk between tumour and immune system has been crucial for the introduction of reliable prognostic factors and effective therapeutic protocols against cancers.


Blood ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 128 (22) ◽  
pp. 1339-1339
Author(s):  
Namit Sharma ◽  
Pan Zhongda ◽  
Tracy Lauren Smith ◽  
Savar Kaul ◽  
Emilie Ernoult ◽  
...  

Abstract Dendritic cells (DCs) along with mast cells function as sentinels for the innate immune system and perform as antigen presenting cells (APCs) to mount an adaptive immune response against invading pathogen. FLT3 receptor tyrosine kinase signaling has been shown to regulate the homeostatic mechanisms of subsets of DCs particularly, CD103+DCs compared to CD11b+DCs. CD103+DCs are regarded as APCs with superior capabilities to mount an effective immune response, thus understanding their homeostasis mechanism(s)/function is of paramount importance to devise effective therapeutics including DC vaccines. The Src-like adapter protein (SLAP) has been shown to dampen the signaling downstream of receptor tyrosine kinases including FLT3, cKit, and immune cell receptors including T cell receptor, B cell receptor, and Granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor receptor via by recruiting c-Cbl, an ubiquitin ligase. Here, we report that SLAP deficient mice (KO) have reduced numbers of CD103+DC in lung while equal numbers in liver and kidney compared to control mice. To further confirm reduced CD103+DC in the lung, efferocytosis assays that are dependent upon CD+103 DC in lung epithelium to cleanse the apoptotic cells were performed. Flow cytometric quantification of CD103+DCs that uptake fluorescently labeled apoptotic cells administered via intranasal route and migrate to mediastinal lymph nodes confirmed reduced number of CD103+DCs in SLAP KO mice. Further analysis of DC progenitor populations showed reduced pre-DC progenitor in the lung in SLAP KO mice while bone marrow compartment showed equal progenitor populations including pre-DC and common dendritic progenitors suggesting the role of SLAP in localized FLT3 signaling in the lung. Consistently, DCs in lymphoid compartment including spleen, thymus, inguinal and popliteal lymph node did not show any defects. Upon further dissecting the cellular mechanism, SLAP KO DCs showed increased apoptosis while having similar proliferation potential in vivo at steady state.Bone marrow progenitors from SLAP KO mice failed to generate mature DCs in the presence of FLT3 ligand in vitrodue to enhanced apoptosis at early time points. Also, submaximal inhibition of FLT3 with an inhibitor, quizartinib partially rescues the apoptotic phenotype of SLAP KO bone marrow progenitors suggesting a cell-intrinsic role of SLAP in the survival of DCs. Biochemical analysis revealed that SLAP is directly recruited to the juxta-membrane residues of the FLT3 receptor in an inducible manner suggesting a direct role of SLAP in the regulation of FLT3 signaling. Phosphoflow analysis of DCs generated in the combined presence of GMCSF and FLT3 ligands showed that SLAP promotes the signaling to SHP2 while perturbs signaling to the mTOR pathway. Together these results suggest that SLAP is a critical regulator of CD103+DCs homeostasis in selective peripheral organs including the lung. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. V. Larionova ◽  
T. N. Sevastyanova ◽  
A. A. Rakina ◽  
N. V. Cherdyntseva ◽  
Ju. G. Kzhyshkowska

In the present review we collected the main studies regarding the role of chitinase-like proteins (CLPs), belonging to the family of Glyco_18 domain-containing proteins, in different cancers. In  humans, 3 chitinaselike proteins have been identified: YKL-40 (CHI3L1), YKL-39 (CHI3L2) and  stabilin-1-interacting chitinase-like protein (SI-CLP). CLPs are produced by several types of cells  and combine the properties of cytokines and growth factors. The high levels of CLPs were  identified in the circulation of the patients with inflammatory diseases and various types of  tumors. We highlighted the main known functions of CLPs in normal and pathological conditions, their contribution to metastasis development, angiogenesis, invasion and other processes in  cancer, the correlation of the levels of CLPs with tumour progression. Our data also contribute to the understanding of question how CLP could be useful for cancer patient benefit.


Oncogene ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Ottina ◽  
Veera Panova ◽  
Laura Doglio ◽  
Anastasiya Kazachenka ◽  
Georgina Cornish ◽  
...  

AbstractThe ubiquitin-proteasome system maintains protein homoeostasis, underpins the cell cycle, and is dysregulated in cancer. However, the role of individual E3 ubiquitin ligases, which mediate the final step in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, remains incompletely understood. Identified through screening for cancer-specific endogenous retroviral transcripts, we show that the little-studied E3 ubiquitin ligase HECTD2 exerts dominant control of tumour progression in melanoma. HECTD2 cell autonomously drives the proliferation of human and murine melanoma cells by accelerating the cell cycle. HECTD2 additionally regulates cancer cell production of immune mediators, initiating multiple immune suppressive pathways, which include the cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) pathway. Accordingly, higher HECTD2 expression is associated with weaker anti-tumour immunity and unfavourable outcome of PD-1 blockade in human melanoma and counteracts immunity against a model tumour antigen in murine melanoma. This central, multifaceted role of HECTD2 in cancer cell-autonomous proliferation and in immune evasion may provide a single target for a multipronged therapy of melanoma.


2018 ◽  
Vol 314 (5) ◽  
pp. F679-F698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul Sharma ◽  
Gilbert R. Kinsey

Foxp3-expressing CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) make up one subset of the helper T cells (Th) and are one of the major mechanisms of peripheral tolerance. Tregs prevent abnormal activation of the immune system throughout the lifespan, thus protecting from autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Recent studies have elucidated the role of Tregs beyond autoimmunity. Tregs play important functions in controlling not only innate and adaptive immune cell activation, but also regulate nonimmune cell function during insults and injury. Inflammation contributes to a multitude of acute and chronic diseases affecting the kidneys. This review examines the role of Tregs in pathogenesis of renal inflammatory diseases and explores the approaches for enhancing Tregs for prevention and therapy of renal inflammation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Parisi ◽  
Barbara Bassani ◽  
Marco Tremolati ◽  
Elisabetta Gini ◽  
Giampietro Farronato ◽  
...  

Inflammation, altered immune cell phenotype, and functions are key features shared by diverse chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. Natural killer cells are innate lymphoid cells primarily involved in the immune system response tonon-self-components but their plasticity is largely influenced by the pathological microenvironment. Altered NK phenotype and function have been reported in several pathological conditions, basically related to impaired or enhanced toxicity. Here we reviewed and discussed the role of NKs in selected, different, and “distant” chronic diseases, cancer, diabetes, periodontitis, and atherosclerosis, placing NK cells as crucial orchestrator of these pathologic conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guan Yang ◽  
Luc Van Kaer

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in which the immune system damages the protective insulation surrounding nerve fibers that project from neurons. The pathological hallmark of MS is multiple areas of myelin loss accompanied by inflammation within the CNS, resulting in loss of cognitive function that ultimately leads to paralysis. Recent studies in MS have focused on autophagy, a cellular self-eating process, as a potential target for MS treatment. Here, we review the contribution of immune cell autophagy to the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the prototypic animal model of MS. A better understanding of the role of autophagy in different immune cells to EAE might inform the development of novel therapeutic approaches in MS and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salar Pashangzadeh ◽  
Morteza Motallebnezhad ◽  
Fatemeh Vafashoar ◽  
Azadeh Khalvandi ◽  
Nazanin Mojtabavi

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding conserved RNAs containing 19 to 24 nucleotides that are regulators of post-translational modifications and are involved in the majority of biological processes such as immune homeostasis, T helper cell differentiation, central and peripheral tolerance, and immune cell development. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by immune system dysregulation, which ultimately leads to destructive responses to self-antigens. A large body of literature suggests that autoimmune diseases and immune dysregulation are associated with different miRNA expression changes in the target cells and tissues of adaptive or innate immunity. miR-155 is identified as a critical modulator of immune responses. Recently conducted studies on the expression profile of miR-155 suggest that the altered expression and function of miR-155 can mediate vulnerability to autoimmune diseases and cause significant dysfunction of the immune system.


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