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Benmelech S, Le T, McKay M, Nam J, Subramaniam K, Tellez D, Vlasak G, Mak M. Biophysical and biochemical aspects of immune cell-tumor microenvironment interactions. APL Bioeng 2024; 8:021502. [PMID: 38572312 PMCID: PMC10990568 DOI: 10.1063/5.0195244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The tumor microenvironment (TME), composed of and influenced by a heterogeneous set of cancer cells and an extracellular matrix, plays a crucial role in cancer progression. The biophysical aspects of the TME (namely, its architecture and mechanics) regulate interactions and spatial distributions of cancer cells and immune cells. In this review, we discuss the factors of the TME-notably, the extracellular matrix, as well as tumor and stromal cells-that contribute to a pro-tumor, immunosuppressive response. We then discuss the ways in which cells of the innate and adaptive immune systems respond to tumors from both biochemical and biophysical perspectives, with increased focus on CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. Building upon this information, we turn to immune-based antitumor interventions-specifically, recent biophysical breakthroughs aimed at improving CAR-T cell therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shoham Benmelech
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Thien Le
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Maggie McKay
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Jungmin Nam
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Krupakar Subramaniam
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Daniela Tellez
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Grace Vlasak
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
| | - Michael Mak
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA
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Xin Y, Xiong S, Zhou L, Lin X. Activation of leukotriene B 4 receptor 1 is a prerequisite for complement receptor 3-mediated antifungal responses of neutrophils. Cell Mol Immunol 2024; 21:245-259. [PMID: 38297112 PMCID: PMC10901876 DOI: 10.1038/s41423-024-01130-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Invasive fungal infections are life-threatening, and neutrophils are vital cells of the innate immune system that defend against them. The role of LTA4H-LTB4-BLT1 axis in regulation of neutrophil responses to fungal infection remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrated that the LTA4H-LTB4-BLT1 axis protects the host against Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus, but not Cryptococcus neoformans infection, by regulating the antifungal activity of neutrophils. Our results show that deleting Lta4h or Blt1 substantially impairs the fungal-specific phagocytic capacity of neutrophils. Moreover, defective activation of the spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK1/2) pathways in neutrophils accompanies this impairment. Mechanistically, BLT1 regulates CR3-mediated, β-1,3-glucan-induced neutrophil phagocytosis, while a physical interaction with CR3 with slight influence on its dynamics is observed. Our findings thus demonstrate that the LTA4H-LTB4-BLT1 axis is essential for the phagocytic function of neutrophils in host antifungal immune response against Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Xin
- Institute for Immunology and School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China
- Tsinghua University-Peking University Center for Life Sciences, 100084, Beijing, China
| | - Sihan Xiong
- Institute for Immunology and School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China
| | - Linghong Zhou
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200040, China
| | - Xin Lin
- Institute for Immunology and School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China.
- Tsinghua University-Peking University Center for Life Sciences, 100084, Beijing, China.
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Winn-Nuñez ET, Witt H, Bhaskar D, Huang RY, Reichner JS, Wong IY, Crawford L. Generative modeling of biological shapes and images using a probabilistic α-shape sampler. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.09.574919. [PMID: 38260340 PMCID: PMC10802457 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.09.574919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Understanding morphological variation is an important task in many areas of computational biology. Recent studies have focused on developing computational tools for the task of sub-image selection which aims at identifying structural features that best describe the variation between classes of shapes. A major part in assessing the utility of these approaches is to demonstrate their performance on both simulated and real datasets. However, when creating a model for shape statistics, real data can be difficult to access and the sample sizes for these data are often small due to them being expensive to collect. Meanwhile, the current landscape of generative models for shapes has been mostly limited to approaches that use black-box inference-making it difficult to systematically assess the power and calibration of sub-image models. In this paper, we introduce the α -shape sampler: a probabilistic framework for generating realistic 2D and 3D shapes based on probability distributions which can be learned from real data. We demonstrate our framework using proof-of-concept examples and in two real applications in biology where we generate (i) 2D images of healthy and septic neutrophils and (ii) 3D computed tomography (CT) scans of primate mandibular molars. The α -shape sampler R package is open-source and can be downloaded at https://github.com/lcrawlab/ashapesampler.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hadley Witt
- Graduate Program in Pathobiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Division of Surgical Research, Department of Surgery, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA
| | | | - Ryan Y. Huang
- Department of Computer Science, Brown University, Providence, RI USA
| | - Jonathan S. Reichner
- Graduate Program in Pathobiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Division of Surgical Research, Department of Surgery, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Ian Y. Wong
- Graduate Program in Pathobiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- School of Engineering, Legoretta Cancer Center, Brown University, Providence, RI USA
| | - Lorin Crawford
- Microsoft Research, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Center for Computational Molecular Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
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Rump K, Koos B, Ziehe D, Thon P, Rahmel T, Palmowski L, Marko B, Wolf A, Witowski A, Bazzi Z, Bazzi M, Orlowski J, Adamzik M, Bergmann L, Unterberg M. Methazolamide Reduces the AQP5 mRNA Expression and Immune Cell Migration-A New Potential Drug in Sepsis Therapy? Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:610. [PMID: 38203778 PMCID: PMC10779206 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25010610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by the dysregulated host response to infection. Novel therapeutic options are urgently needed and aquaporin inhibitors could suffice as aquaporin 5 (Aqp5) knockdown provided enhanced sepsis survival in a murine sepsis model. Potential AQP5 inhibitors provide sulfonamides and their derivatives. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that sulfonamides reduce AQP5 expression in different conditions. The impact of sulfonamides on AQP5 expression and immune cell migration was examined in cell lines REH and RAW 264.7 by qPCR, Western blot and migration assay. Subsequently, whether furosemide and methazolamide are capable of reducing AQP5 expression after LPS incubation was investigated in whole blood samples of healthy volunteers. Incubation with methazolamide (10-5 M) and furosemide (10-6 M) reduced AQP5 mRNA and protein expression by about 30% in REH cells. Pre-incubation of the cells with methazolamide reduced cell migration towards SDF1-α compared to non-preincubated cells to control level. Pre-incubation with methazolamide in PBMCs led to a reduction in LPS-induced AQP5 expression compared to control levels, while furosemide failed to reduce it. Methazolamide appears to reduce AQP5 expression and migration of immune cells. However, after LPS administration, the reduction in AQP5 expression by methazolamide is no longer possible. Hence, our study indicates that methazolamide is capable of reducing AQP5 expression and has the potential to be used in sepsis prophylaxis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Rump
- Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Intensivmedizin und Schmerztherapie, Universitätsklinikum Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, 44892 Bochum, Germany; (B.K.); (D.Z.); (P.T.); (T.R.); (L.P.); (B.M.); (A.W.); (A.W.); (Z.B.); (M.B.); (J.O.); (M.A.); (M.U.)
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