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Matsumoto Y, Ju T. Aberrant Glycosylation as Immune Therapeutic Targets for Solid Tumors. Cancers (Basel) 2023; 15:3536. [PMID: 37509200 PMCID: PMC10377354 DOI: 10.3390/cancers15143536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Glycosylation occurs at all major types of biomolecules, including proteins, lipids, and RNAs to form glycoproteins, glycolipids, and glycoRNAs in mammalian cells, respectively. The carbohydrate moiety, known as glycans on glycoproteins and glycolipids, is diverse in their compositions and structures. Normal cells have their unique array of glycans or glycome which play pivotal roles in many biological processes. The glycan structures in cancer cells, however, are often altered, some having unique structures which are termed as tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs). TACAs as tumor biomarkers are glycan epitopes themselves, or glycoconjugates. Some of those TACAs serve as tumor glyco-biomarkers in clinical practice, while others are the immune therapeutic targets for treatment of cancers. A monoclonal antibody (mAb) to GD2, an intermediate of sialic-acid containing glycosphingolipids, is an example of FDA-approved immune therapy for neuroblastoma indication in young adults and many others. Strategies for targeting the aberrant glycans are currently under development, and some have proceeded to clinical trials. In this review, we summarize the currently established and most promising aberrant glycosylation as therapeutic targets for solid tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasuyuki Matsumoto
- Office of Biotechnology Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA
| | - Tongzhong Ju
- Office of Biotechnology Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA
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2
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Xiao J, Zhang T, Gao F, Zhou Z, Shu G, Zou Y, Yin G. Natural Killer Cells: A Promising Kit in the Adoptive Cell Therapy Toolbox. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14:cancers14225657. [PMID: 36428748 PMCID: PMC9688567 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14225657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 11/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
As an important component of the innate immune system, natural killer (NK) cells have gained increasing attention in adoptive cell therapy for their safety and efficacious tumor-killing effect. Unlike T cells which rely on the interaction between TCRs and specific peptide-MHC complexes, NK cells are more prone to be served as "off-the-shelf" cell therapy products due to their rapid recognition and killing of tumor cells without MHC restriction. In recent years, constantly emerging sources of therapeutic NK cells have provided flexible options for cancer immunotherapy. Advanced genetic engineering techniques, especially chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modification, have yielded exciting effectiveness in enhancing NK cell specificity and cytotoxicity, improving in vivo persistence, and overcoming immunosuppressive factors derived from tumors. In this review, we highlight current advances in NK-based adoptive cell therapy, including alternative sources of NK cells for adoptive infusion, various CAR modifications that confer different targeting specificity to NK cells, multiple genetic engineering strategies to enhance NK cell function, as well as the latest clinical research on adoptive NK cell therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiani Xiao
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China
| | - Tianxiang Zhang
- Department of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Fei Gao
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China
| | - Zhengwei Zhou
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China
| | - Guang Shu
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China
| | - Yizhou Zou
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medicine, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China
- Correspondence: (Y.Z.); (G.Y.)
| | - Gang Yin
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410000, China
- Correspondence: (Y.Z.); (G.Y.)
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Derosiers N, Aguilar W, DeGaramo DA, Posey AD. Sweet Immune Checkpoint Targets to Enhance T Cell Therapy. JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY (BALTIMORE, MD. : 1950) 2022; 208:278-285. [PMID: 35017217 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.2100706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Despite tremendous success against hematological malignancies, the performance of chimeric Ag receptor T cells against solid tumors remains poor. In such settings, the lack of success of this groundbreaking immunotherapy is in part mediated by ligand engagement of immune checkpoint molecules on the surface of T cells in the tumor microenvironment. Although CTLA-4 and programmed death-1 (PD-1) are well-established checkpoints that inhibit T cell activity, the engagement of glycans and glycan-binding proteins are a growing area of interest due to their immunomodulatory effects. This review discusses exemplary strategies to neutralize checkpoint molecules through an in-depth overview of genetic engineering approaches aimed at overcoming the inhibitory programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)/PD-1 axis in T cell therapies and summarizes current knowledge on glycoimmune interactions that mediate T cell immunosuppression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nohelly Derosiers
- Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and
| | - William Aguilar
- Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and
| | - David A DeGaramo
- Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and
| | - Avery D Posey
- Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and .,Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
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Liu R, Luo Q, Luo W, Wan L, Zhu Q, Yin X, Lu X, Song Z, Wei L, Xiang Z, Zou Y. A Soluble NK-CAR Mediates the Specific Cytotoxicity of NK Cells toward the Target CD20 + Lymphoma Cells. Aging Dis 2022; 13:1576-1588. [PMID: 36186137 PMCID: PMC9466963 DOI: 10.14336/ad.2022.0415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Rongjiao Liu
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Qizhi Luo
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Weiguang Luo
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Henan Provincial People's Hospital; People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
| | - Ling Wan
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Quan Zhu
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Xiangli Yin
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Xiaofang Lu
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Zixuan Song
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Leiyan Wei
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Zhiqing Xiang
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Yizhou Zou
- Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
- Hunan Key Laboratory of Aging Biology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
- Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Yizhou Zou, Department of Immunology, School of Basic Medical of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. .
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Chen H, Chen Y, Deng M, John S, Gui X, Kansagra A, Chen W, Kim J, Lewis C, Wu G, Xie J, Zhang L, Huang R, Liu X, Arase H, Huang Y, Yu H, Luo W, Xia N, Zhang N, An Z, Zhang CC. Antagonistic anti-LILRB1 monoclonal antibody regulates antitumor functions of natural killer cells. J Immunother Cancer 2021; 8:jitc-2019-000515. [PMID: 32771992 PMCID: PMC7418854 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2019-000515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Current immune checkpoint blockade strategies have been successful in treating certain types of solid cancer. However, checkpoint blockade monotherapies have not been successful against most hematological malignancies including multiple myeloma and leukemia. There is an urgent need to identify new targets for development of cancer immunotherapy. LILRB1, an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif-containing receptor, is widely expressed on human immune cells, including B cells, monocytes and macrophages, dendritic cells and subsets of natural killer (NK) cells and T cells. The ligands of LILRB1, such as major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules, activate LILRB1 and transduce a suppressive signal, which inhibits the immune responses. However, it is not clear whether LILRB1 blockade can be effectively used for cancer treatment. METHODS First, we measured the LILRB1 expression on NK cells from cancer patients to determine whether LILRB1 upregulated on NK cells from patients with cancer, compared with NK cells from healthy donors. Then, we developed specific antagonistic anti-LILRB1 monoclonal antibodies and studied the effects of LILRB1 blockade on the antitumor immune function of NK cells, especially in multiple myeloma models, in vitro and in vivo xenograft model using non-obese diabetic (NOD)-SCID interleukin-2Rγ-null mice. RESULTS We demonstrate that percentage of LILRB1+ NK cells is significantly higher in patients with persistent multiple myeloma after treatment than that in healthy donors. Further, the percentage of LILRB1+ NK cells is also significantly higher in patients with late-stage prostate cancer than that in healthy donors. Significantly, we showed that LILRB1 blockade by our antagonistic LILRB1 antibody increased the tumoricidal activity of NK cells against several types of cancer cells, including multiple myeloma, leukemia, lymphoma and solid tumors, in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that blocking LILRB1 signaling on immune effector cells such as NK cells may represent a novel strategy for the development of anticancer immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heyu Chen
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Yuanzhi Chen
- Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.,School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Mi Deng
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Samuel John
- Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Hematology- Oncology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Xun Gui
- Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Ankit Kansagra
- Department of Hematology and Oncology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.,Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Weina Chen
- Department of Pathology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Jaehyup Kim
- Department of Pathology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Cheryl Lewis
- Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Guojin Wu
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Jingjing Xie
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Lingbo Zhang
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.,Department of Oncology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Ryan Huang
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Xiaoye Liu
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Hisashi Arase
- Department of Immunochemistry, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases and Laboratory of Immunochemistry, World Premier International Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Yang Huang
- School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Hai Yu
- School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Wenxin Luo
- School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Ningshao Xia
- School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Ningyan Zhang
- Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Zhiqiang An
- Texas Therapeutics Institute, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Cheng Cheng Zhang
- Department of Physiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
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Fuertes MB, Domaica CI, Zwirner NW. Leveraging NKG2D Ligands in Immuno-Oncology. Front Immunol 2021; 12:713158. [PMID: 34394116 PMCID: PMC8358801 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.713158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) revolutionized the field of immuno-oncology and opened new avenues towards the development of novel assets to achieve durable immune control of cancer. Yet, the presence of tumor immune evasion mechanisms represents a challenge for the development of efficient treatment options. Therefore, combination therapies are taking the center of the stage in immuno-oncology. Such combination therapies should boost anti-tumor immune responses and/or target tumor immune escape mechanisms, especially those created by major players in the tumor microenvironment (TME) such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). Natural killer (NK) cells were recently positioned at the forefront of many immunotherapy strategies, and several new approaches are being designed to fully exploit NK cell antitumor potential. One of the most relevant NK cell-activating receptors is NKG2D, a receptor that recognizes 8 different NKG2D ligands (NKG2DL), including MICA and MICB. MICA and MICB are poorly expressed on normal cells but become upregulated on the surface of damaged, transformed or infected cells as a result of post-transcriptional or post-translational mechanisms and intracellular pathways. Their engagement of NKG2D triggers NK cell effector functions. Also, MICA/B are polymorphic and such polymorphism affects functional responses through regulation of their cell-surface expression, intracellular trafficking, shedding of soluble immunosuppressive isoforms, or the affinity of NKG2D interaction. Although immunotherapeutic approaches that target the NKG2D-NKG2DL axis are under investigation, several tumor immune escape mechanisms account for reduced cell surface expression of NKG2DL and contribute to tumor immune escape. Also, NKG2DL polymorphism determines functional NKG2D-dependent responses, thus representing an additional challenge for leveraging NKG2DL in immuno-oncology. In this review, we discuss strategies to boost MICA/B expression and/or inhibit their shedding and propose that combination strategies that target MICA/B with antibodies and strategies aimed at promoting their upregulation on tumor cells or at reprograming TAM into pro-inflammatory macrophages and remodeling of the TME, emerge as frontrunners in immuno-oncology because they may unleash the antitumor effector functions of NK cells and cytotoxic CD8 T cells (CTL). Pursuing several of these pipelines might lead to innovative modalities of immunotherapy for the treatment of a wide range of cancer patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mercedes Beatriz Fuertes
- Laboratorio de Fisiopatología de la Inmunidad Innata, Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Carolina Inés Domaica
- Laboratorio de Fisiopatología de la Inmunidad Innata, Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Norberto Walter Zwirner
- Laboratorio de Fisiopatología de la Inmunidad Innata, Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Luo Q, Luo W, Zhu Q, Huang H, Peng H, Liu R, Xie M, Li S, Li M, Hu X, Zou Y. Tumor-Derived Soluble MICA Obstructs the NKG2D Pathway to Restrain NK Cytotoxicity. Aging Dis 2020; 11:118-128. [PMID: 32010486 PMCID: PMC6961768 DOI: 10.14336/ad.2019.1017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 06/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The natural killer group 2D (NKG2D) receptor and its ligands play important roles in immune surveillance. In this study, we observed that the average serum soluble MICA (sMICA) concentration of 174 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients was significantly higher than that in 80 healthy subjects (602.17 ± 338.15 vs. 72.26 ± 87.88 pg/ml, t = 3.107, P=0.002). The levels of serum sMICA in 44 HCC patients with initial levels above 400 pg/ml declined significantly after surgical removal of the liver cancer tissue (P<0.001). Moreover, the mean survival time of HCC patients who had sMICA above 400 pg/ml was significantly shorter than that HCC patients with lower sMICA levels (P<0.001). Using the reporter cell line (NKG2D-2B4) in which activation of the NKG2D receptor pathway results in GFP expression based on the stimulation of immobilized rMICA, we showed that the number of GFP-expressing cells decreased sharply in presence of sMICA. Upon adding sMICA, the release of cytokines IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-8 by NK cell line (NKL) under stimulation of immobilized rMICA was blocked. Using MICA-expressing cells as the target cells, we observed that about 80% of target cells were killed by NKL at E:T of 10:1, but in presence of sMICAhigh serum of HCC patients, the dead target cells were reduced to 30.8%. Compared in presence of sMICAlow serum from HCC patients, there were 63.7% of target cells dead (p=0.043). Thus, our data suggested that sMICA obstructs the activation of NKG2D pathway to protect tumor cells from NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qizhi Luo
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Weiguang Luo
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.,2Department of Physiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Quan Zhu
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Hongjun Huang
- 3Cancer Hospital of Hunan, Xiangya Medical School, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Huiyun Peng
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Rongjiao Liu
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Min Xie
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Shili Li
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Ming Li
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xiaocui Hu
- 3Cancer Hospital of Hunan, Xiangya Medical School, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Yizhou Zou
- 1Department of Immunology, Basic Medical School of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
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