14
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Potent STING activation stimulates immunogenic cell death to enhance antitumor immunity in neuroblastoma

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Background

          Neuroblastoma (NB) is a childhood cancer for which new treatment options are needed. The success of immune checkpoint blockade in the treatment of adult solid tumors has prompted the exploration of immunotherapy in NB; however, clinical evidence indicates that the vast majority of NB patients do not respond to single-agent checkpoint inhibitors. This motivates a need for therapeutic strategies to increase NB tumor immunogenicity. The goal of this study was to evaluate a new immunotherapeutic strategy for NB based on potent activation of the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway.

          Methods

          To promote STING activation in NB cells and tumors, we utilized STING-activating nanoparticles (STING-NPs) that are designed to mediate efficient cytosolic delivery of the endogenous STING ligand, 2’3’-cGAMP. We investigated tumor-intrinsic responses to STING activation in both MYCN-amplified and non-amplified NB cell lines, evaluating effects on STING signaling, apoptosis, and the induction of immunogenic cell death. The effects of intratumoral administration of STING-NPs on CD8 + T cell infiltration, tumor growth, and response to response to PD-L1 checkpoint blockade were evaluated in syngeneic models of MYCN-amplified and non-amplified NB.

          Results

          The efficient cytosolic delivery of 2’3’-cGAMP enabled by STING-NPs triggered tumor-intrinsic STING signaling effects in both MYCN-amplified and non-amplified NB cell lines, resulting in increased expression of interferon-stimulated genes and pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as NB cell death at concentrations 2000-fold to 10000-fold lower than free 2’3’-cGAMP. STING-mediated cell death in NB was associated with release or expression of several danger associated molecular patterns that are hallmarks of immunogenic cell death, which was further validated via cell-based vaccination and tumor challenge studies. Intratumoral administration of STING-NPs enhanced STING activation relative to free 2’3’-cGAMP in NB tumor models, converting poorly immunogenic tumors into tumoricidal and T cell-inflamed microenvironments and resulting in inhibition of tumor growth, increased survival, and induction of immunological memory that protected against tumor re-challenge. In a model of MYCN-amplified NB, STING-NPs generated an abscopal response that inhibited distal tumor growth and improved response to PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade.

          Conclusions

          We have demonstrated that activation of the STING pathway, here enabled by a nanomedicine approach, stimulates immunogenic cell death and remodels the tumor immune microenvironment to inhibit NB tumor growth and improve responses to immune checkpoint blockade, providing a multifaceted immunotherapeutic approach with potential to enhance immunotherapy outcomes in NB.

          Related collections

          Most cited references38

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          STING-dependent cytosolic DNA sensing mediates innate immune recognition of immunogenic tumors.

          Spontaneous T cell responses against tumors occur frequently and have prognostic value in patients. The mechanism of innate immune sensing of immunogenic tumors leading to adaptive T cell responses remains undefined, although type I interferons (IFNs) are implicated in this process. We found that spontaneous CD8(+) T cell priming against tumors was defective in mice lacking stimulator of interferon genes complex (STING), but not other innate signaling pathways, suggesting involvement of a cytosolic DNA sensing pathway. In vitro, IFN-? production and dendritic cell activation were triggered by tumor-cell-derived DNA, via cyclic-GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), STING, and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3). In the tumor microenvironment in vivo, tumor cell DNA was detected within host antigen-presenting cells, which correlated with STING pathway activation and IFN-? production. Our results demonstrate that a major mechanism for innate immune sensing of cancer occurs via the host STING pathway, with major implications for cancer immunotherapy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Chemokine expression in melanoma metastases associated with CD8+ T-cell recruitment.

            Despite the frequent detection of circulating tumor antigen-specific T cells, either spontaneously or following active immunization or adoptive transfer, immune-mediated cancer regression occurs only in the minority of patients. One theoretical rate-limiting step is whether effector T cells successfully migrate into metastatic tumor sites. Affymetrix gene expression profiling done on a series of metastatic melanoma biopsies revealed a major segregation of samples based on the presence or absence of T-cell-associated transcripts. The presence of lymphocytes correlated with the expression of defined chemokine genes. A subset of six chemokines (CCL2, CCL3, CCL4, CCL5, CXCL9, and CXCL10) was confirmed by protein array and/or quantitative reverse transcription-PCR to be preferentially expressed in tumors that contained T cells. Corresponding chemokine receptors were found to be up-regulated on human CD8(+) effector T cells, and transwell migration assays confirmed the ability of each of these chemokines to promote migration of CD8(+) effector cells in vitro. Screening by chemokine protein array identified a subset of melanoma cell lines that produced a similar broad array of chemokines. These melanoma cells more effectively recruited human CD8(+) effector T cells when implanted as xenografts in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mice in vivo. Chemokine blockade with specific antibodies inhibited migration of CD8(+) T cells. Our results suggest that lack of critical chemokines in a subset of melanoma metastases may limit the migration of activated T cells, which in turn could limit the effectiveness of antitumor immunity.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Targeting Toll-like receptors: emerging therapeutics?

              There is a growing interest in the targeting of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) for the prevention and treatment of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Several new compounds are now undergoing preclinical and clinical evaluation, with a particular focus on TLR7 and TLR9 activators as adjuvants in infection and cancer, and inhibitors of TLR2, TLR4, TLR7 and TLR9 for the treatment of sepsis and inflammatory diseases. Here, we focus on TLRs that hold the most promise for drug discovery research, highlighting agents that are in the discovery phase and in clinical trials,and on the emerging new aspects of TLR-mediated signalling - such as control by ubiquitination and regulation by microRNAs - that might offer further possibilities of therapeutic manipulation.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Immunother Cancer
                J Immunother Cancer
                jitc
                jitc
                Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer
                BMJ Publishing Group (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR )
                2051-1426
                2020
                12 March 2020
                : 8
                : 1
                : e000282
                Affiliations
                [1 ] departmentDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering , Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee, USA
                [2 ] departmentDepartment of Medicine , Vanderbilt University Medical Center , Nashville, Tennessee, USA
                Author notes
                [Correspondence to ] Professor John T. Wilson; john.t.wilson@ 123456vanderbilt.edu
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9444-4379
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9144-2634
                Article
                jitc-2019-000282
                10.1136/jitc-2019-000282
                7069313
                32169869
                31df8cb9-f8d6-4158-93ea-8f0a6b8c9ca3
                © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

                This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

                History
                : 23 January 2020
                Funding
                Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000048, American Cancer Society;
                Award ID: IRG-58-009-56
                Funded by: National Institutes of Health;
                Award ID: R00CA201304
                Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001, National Science Foundation;
                Award ID: CBET-1554623
                Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100001445, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer;
                Award ID: POST
                Award ID: SID924
                Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000043, American Association for Cancer Research;
                Award ID: SU2C-AACR-IRG 20-17
                Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research;
                Categories
                Oncolytic and Local Immunotherapy
                1506
                2438
                Custom metadata
                unlocked

                immunology,tumours
                immunology, tumours

                Comments

                Comment on this article